Juubi no Tokage: Part I, The New Recruit
by Caranril
Summary: When Konoha agrees to train a foreigner in the way of Shonobi, the task falls on Iruka to prepare Kaori for her final test to determine if she'll become a ninja.
1. Parades and Petitions

Caranril: Well hello my dear readers. This was once posted under "Juubi no Akuma Anaguma", but several things went wrong. First, in Japanese mythology the badger had eight tails, so I had to create another demon to bear the ten. Secondly, this fic is going to be way longer than I intended and decided to write it in parts (this as much for my sanity as those who may be faced with a plethora of chappies). Some things may be a bit different because of changes I've made, but the story is more or less whole.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 1: Parades and Petitions

Magnificent smells swirled through the streets of Konoha: baked bread, teriyaki, fish, ramen. Citizens had fervently cleaned the streets while the merchants had tidied and decorated their shops. A banner reading "Happy 55th Birthday" stretched between buildings across the start of the main street, the August morning sun heating the stones quickly. Shinobi volunteers stood along the ropes keeping the street clear; the parade would go without a hitch with the ninja on guard. This birthday celebration was special not just because it was Tsunade's birthday, but it also marked the fifth year of her successful watch as Hokage.

Naruto was supposed to patrol an area of his own, but his nostrils flared eagerly as the ramen stands displayed samples on their counters. In fact, the Ichiraku Ramen shop was just a few meters away in Sakura's patrol area. Naruto chortled gleefully. Oh, the Godaime Hokage's birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without ramen. And it smelled so...nice...

He glanced around. All the other Shinobi were tending to their crowded sections, while Sakura was gazing wistfully across the street at Sasuke, who was silent as usual and immobile with his arms crossed, wearing a long cloak despite the warmth from the ten o'clock sun. Naruto snorted. Sasuke. He'd try to pick a fight later. Right now, his mission was those ramen samples...

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he muttered, producing a replicate Naruto. He left the clone to pretend to look busy, while he would prey upon the ramen sitting so innocently in the window. Naruto plunged into the growing crowd, immediately met with heat from the bodies, shops, and sun. By the time he'd reached the ramen stand without Sakura spotting him, sweat droplets slid down his tan cheeks. But it was so worth it, for in seconds he had snatched a hefty tray with small sample bowls. He scooped a bowl up and dumped its contents into his mouth, which turned out to be a big mistake.

"Gaaaagh!" Naruto choked on the piping hot ramen noodles. He fanned his scorched tongue with his hands only to up-end the tray all over his lap.

"Waaaaaaaah!" Naruto hopped about, knocking startled people over as he waved his hands at the mess on his crotch.

"Narutoooooo..."

Naruto froze at the familiar irritation in the voice. He yelped and ducked just in time as Sakura swung at him.

"Naruto, you idiot! You're supposed to be watching your own area, not mine!" Sakura swung again, but this time Naruto was safely back on his own side. His clone disappeared before it could get involved.

"This time you stay over there. Do you know how much trouble you could get into for shirking on the job?" As Sakura continued to yell across the crowd, Naruto sighed. That had been close. It had given some of the crowd great entertainment, though. Through the years, Tsunade's vivacity had infected all of Konoha, and the Konohagakure had surpassed its prosperity before the Sunagakure and Otogakure's attacks. Part of that had to do with the crowds drawn by gambling joints established recently. The Legendary Sucker would never give up her addiction to gambling.

So as the restless crowd tittered at Naruto's close encounter, drums and brass sounded as the parade began. A band led the entourage, immediately followed by an impressive float that held the image of the five Hokages' faces carved in stone. Atop the mountain replication sat a smiling, waving Tsunade dressed in long green robes. Acrobats flipped and danced behind the main float, twirling ribbons and throwing confetti. As the parade continued, various floats drifted by, displaying various, well-known aspects of the Land of Fire's culture. The most eye-catching was a terrifying replication of the Kyuubi. Naruto's lower back shivered slightly, though out of fear or thrill he couldn't tell. The nine tails even danced about and the eyes glowed. A child nearby started crying, but as the float passed all fears were forgotten as several attractive young women threw candy into the crowd. Naruto's eyes bulged, desperate to grab some for himself. But Sakura was giving him the evil eye, so he had to be sneaky.

"Whaaaat?" Naruto's jaw dropped to his chest and he stared at the next float, decorated with flowers and women. In the middle sat none other than Jiraiya, blushing like a fool at the girls surrounding him. He spotted Naruto and waved sheepishly, then continued to entertain the crowd with a goofy smile and more tossed candy. People cheered for the Sannin, but Naruto crossed his arms and sneered.

"Leave it to Ero-sennin to take the cushy jobs," he grumbled. His eyes went wide as a pink-clad blond slid up to him and gave him a handful of candy.

"Present from Jiraiya-sama," she winked, then grabbing his ears she gave his cheek a big wet kiss. And then she danced away. Naruto flushed and wiped the gloss from his cheek. He chuckled gleefully, which died away as he felt hot eyes burning into him. Sakura was glaring. He sheepishly waved, then turned away and popped a piece of candy into his mouth. His tongue still stung from the boiling hot ramen.

The rest of the parade was boring, and Naruto found himself drenched with sweat under the sun. He wearily glanced at Sasuke, who looked nice and cool despite the black cloak. Gr, how could that Uchiha do that? A tap on his shoulder distracted him from his musings.

"We're done, Naruto," Sakura yawned, looking just as beautiful despite the beads of sweat on her face. She wiped on a droplet from her brow before it dripped in her eye.

"See, Sakura?" Naruto pointed to his forehead protector. "That's why you wear the headband on your forehead!"

"Hmph. Don't wanna mess up my hair." Sakura tossed her locks in emphasis and fluttered her eyes exaggeratedly in a perfect imitation of Ino. The pair stood in the shade of a canopy, though with crowded streets and no breeze the air was just as stifling. The crowd undulated as the after-parade activities began. Naruto hoisted his pack, gripped his wallet and charged into the crowd after Sasuke. There was a dueling rink further down the main drag, which Naruto hoped to use as an excuse to pick a fight with the Uchiha.

Since Sasuke had returned to Konoha unexpectedly six months ago, he hardly said a word. Naruto assumed he'd already spoken to Tsunade, for he was indeed a traitor to the Land of Fire. Kakashi had been a part of the conference, as well as several ANBU members and a few Jounin. The danger Sasuke might have posed to Konoha had passed, for he was allowed to take his place among the Jounin, though it was suspected he was under some sort of parol. Sakura heard from Shizune that Sasuke had signed a contract in blood, though the deal's exact nature was unknown. Naruto doubted that Sasuke had been forced to do something so extreme, but Kakashi adamantly avoided the matter. He said Sasuke wouldn't betray them again and he should be happy that his best friend was back. But Naruto could hardly call him that anymore, for he was a silent shell of the old Sasuke. Naruto had a suspicion that Sasuke had succeeded in killing Uchiha Itachi, but something had changed him irreversibly.

"Hey. Naruto," a placid voice called. Naruto paused a moment to acknowledge Kakashi, but immediately resumed stalking towards Sasuke.

"Later, Kakashi-sensei. I have business with Sasuke."

"Hokage-sama wants to talk with you."

Naruto sighed. Sasuke had disappeared into the flood of people. And Kakashi didn't seem willing to let him enjoy himself. Nor did Tsunade.

"All right, all right, fine." Naruto followed Kakashi to Tsunade's office, which was impossibly hotter than the rest of Konoha. Yet despite the fact that Shizune, Kakashi, and Naruto were all soaking with sweat, Tsunade looked as irritating as ever without any signs of heat fatigue. Not even her blue diamond-crested forehead was damp.

"Naruto, do you recall the attack Haido made on the Land of Wind?" Tsunade spoke through her hands resting against her chin.

Naruto thought hard. "Uh, is that the guy who wanted a utopia?"

"Yes. And do you recall what his true quest was for?"

"Yes! A stone!"

Tsunade held out a hand. In her palm lay a tiny green shard. "I've been a sent a part of this stone. By a young man of the name Temujin."

"Temujin?" Naruto's eyes went wide. "The bastard sent you a piece of the stone?"

"Ah, so you do know him." Tsunade leaned back, relieved. "I received a message from him containing this shard as well as instructions on how to use it. He claimed to know you and that he had even met Sakura and Shikamaru at one point. I wouldn't follow his instructions unless I knew for sure that you and he were indeed on friendly terms."

"I...yes. He's the one who stopped the collapse of the Vein of Gelel," Naruto recalled. "I saved his- well what does he want?"

"He wanted to give you news of his progress overseas. Things are looking up, and when they finally settle down he's requested ambassadors from Konoha to encourage peaceful solutions for the country." Tsunade handed Temujin's letter to Naruto, who scanned it quickly. Naruto stopped suddenly when he reached the third subject.

"Who's...?"

"I don't know much about the way they live overseas, but apparently Chakra is unheard of. Temujin's brief encounter with you showed him enough to recognize the power in a young woman. He requests, most politely, that he be allowed to visit Konoha with the lady and have her trained in the way of the Shinobi. He feels that..."

"'Such talents are amazing to me, though shunned by the villagers here. I don't know much about Chakra levels, but hers seem overflowing,'" Naruto read. "Huh! How could a person who's never heard of Chakra have a lot of it?"

"The distribution of Chakra is not specific," Tsunade said, closing her eyes in concentration. "It's possible there are many potential ninjas overseas, but the power is strange and frightening to the people there."

"With a country always at war, a little bit of strangeness is alarming, even if the oddity could help the country," Kakashi said quietly.

"Tsunade-sama, what are you going to do?" Shizune asked.

Tsunade was still for a moment, then when her eyes flashed open they were filled with determination. She gripped the stone in her palm.

"I will contact Temujin and tell him he's welcome here. Shizune, bring Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji to me. Kakashi, I will meet with you and Umino Iruka in an hour."

"Hey, Tsunade-'baachan! What about me?" Naruto puffed his chest out slightly.

"Dismissed for now," Tsunade waved her hand. "I need to contact Temujin."

"How are they getting here? Who's gonna show them to Konoha? Who's gonna show them _around_ Konoha?"

Tsunade slapped her hand on the desk. "Enough, Naruto! I need to contact Temujin-san before anything else!"

"Hey, Naruto, let Hokage-sama get to work," Kakashi said, turning to leave.

"Naruto."

Naruto stopped at Tsunade's voice. He turned around, but her chair was facing the window.

"You should prepare a place for Temujin and his guest to stay. You have my orders."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Naruto saluted before dashing out of the room ahead of Kakashi.

Tsunade allowed herself a smile behind the tall back of her chair. Naruto was respectful to her only when he was pleased. How ironic she should tolerate it. She held the stone shard between her index finger and thumb and sent Chakra into it. The stone glowed, and with that Tsunade knew she was to leave her message of invitation.


	2. Introductions and Inductions

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 2: Introductions and Inductions

Naruto wiped a spec from his forehead protector and adjusted his Jounin jacket. He sighed as he looked at his reflection. He wasn't much for appearances, but with the static in the air promising thunder storms, his hair stretched as far against gravity as possible. Even wet it refused to be tamed. Admitting defeat, though only because he was in a hurry, Naruto bolted from his apartment and into the street.

Summer was waning into September. Young ninja hopefuls were entering the academy to begin classes. An unfamiliar teacher was greeting the students. Naruto squinted, positive that it wasn't Iruka. Had he given up teaching after so many years? With this thought, Naruto was disappointed. After all, Iruka had been his first real friend.

Naruto's heart lifted when he arrived at the gates of Konoha. Approaching in the morning sun were four figures. Lee and Neji were distinguishable, but Naruto was more surprised than he thought at Temujin's appearance. No longer pale and gaunt, he'd developed a healthy, tan glow. His platinum hair was long, woven into several braids and twisted together down his spine. He wore strange, baggy clothing that didn't seem to suit him as well as the dignified armour he'd worn years ago. He was dirty from the long, hard journey. After Naruto's initial shock at the other teen's appearance, he noticed that Temujin had just recognized him as well.

"Naruto-kun?" Temujin ventured.

"Hee hee," Naruto chuckled, flashing a foolish grin. "Temujin! Recognize me?"

"Barely." Temujin strode forward and shook Naruto's hand. "You're taller than me now."

Naruto scratched his head and continued grinning. Neji stepped forward.

"We are to report to Hokage-sama on our return," Neji tilted his head towards Lee. "She said you may show them to their accommodations, then report to her as well."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto muttered. "Ah, well, sure. Go ahead."

As Lee and Neji left, Naruto looked at the fourth member of the party for the first time. For a moment, he thought there'd been some mistake in the message, for the person looked like a young man his age. A black bandana enveloped their head, and they wore baggy clothes similar to Temujin's. A green stone dangled from the left ear. The face seemed uncharacteristic, with the exception of the contrast between the tan skin and grey eyes. Dark circles surrounded the eyes, giving the face a gaunt,cadaverous appearance. What alerted Naruto to the gender was a gentle breeze pressing the shirt against their chest to reveal the curves of a woman. He blushed, partly for the mistake, partly for staring.

"Hey, so this is..." Naruto struggled to remember her name.

"Akumako," she said quietly.

Naruto raised his brows at this. "That's a horrible name!" he pointed out brashly. "Why would your parents called you 'demon child'?"

"Because I don't have parents. At least, not human ones." Her eyes flashed, but her face remained stolid.

Temujin sighed. "That's not it. Her name is Akumako Kaori. The villagers gave her Akumako because both parents were foreigners and died and could not designate her name."

"And Kaori?" Naruto wondered at the contrast to her surname.

"I gave it to myself to keep me from going insane," Kaori said.

Naruto squinted at the woman, nearly thirty centimeters shorter than he was. "How old are you, girl?"

Kaori met his gaze evenly. "Twenty-two, boy."

"Gr, I'm not a boy! I'm a Jounin!" Naruto said huffily.

"Whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Jounin are elite ninja. Everybody knows that!"

"Naruto." Temujin pulled him aside. "We're tired and dirty and would really like to clean up before meeting Godaime Hokage."

"Hrm, all right. Follow me."

Temujin and Kaori followed, ogling at the size and prosperity of Konoha. Naruto excitedly pointed out various attractions, particularly the Ichiraku Ramen shop. He promised Temujin to treat him before he left. He said nothing to Kaori, who really irritated him. He couldn't point out what bothered him, but she would half-smile whenever he glanced back at her.

He had arranged for them to reside in the same apartment building as him in a sort of guest room. He hadn't thought ahead about them sharing a room, but Temujin assured that it was okay. Naruto paced in his own apartment for hour, impatient to see Tsunade. A knock at his door brought him to it, revealing a much cleaner pair than before. Instead of braids Temujin had pulled his hair into a long ponytail.

"I don't want to keep Hokage-sama waiting," he said cheerfully. "Braiding would take too much time."

Kaori didn't look much different except that her face and baggy clothes were clean. Fresh kohl surrounded her eyes and the sunken look from smudges was gone. As she turned away while Naruto locked his door, he could see an intricate knot of white hair tucked beneath the black bandana. Two chopsticks were barely visible within the bundle of hair.

Naruto continued to ignore her while he led the pair to Tsunade's office. The high afternoon sun wasn't as hot as it should be as damp winds tore through the streets. Temujin up and sniffed.

"The skies will be at war tonight," he commented.

"All the more reason to visit Ichiraku Ramen for a hot meal before the storm," Naruto suggested. "So long as Tsunade-baachan doesn't take too long talking to us. She'll just go on and ooooon..."

Lee and Neji were waiting outside the door. They bid the trio farewell before departing. Naruto burst into the office unceremoniously.

"Tsunade-'baachan!" Naruto announced. "We're here!"

"I can see that," Tsunade muttered, the stood and gestured to two chairs in front of her desk. "Please, have a seat."

Naruto promptly planted himself in the chair next to Temujin. Tsunade glared at him.

"Naruto, you are dismissed. The meeting is with Temujin-san and Kaori-san."

"But, but," Naruto protested. Before he could think, Tsunade grabbed him by his jacket and heaved him to the door. To Naruto's even greater annoyance, Kakashi and Iruka were entering the office as Tsunade threw him into the hall. Naruto winced as the door slammed, then pressed his ear to it. No such luck. In a stroke of genius, he remembered the large window to the office. Enough kage bunshins and he could...With that thought, Naruto took off for the stairs.

Tsunade returned to her seat, struggling with her irritation at Naruto. When she finally sat, her face was composed.

"Kaori-san. Temujin-san. I am Tsuande, Godaime Hokage. I understand you wish to be taught the way of Shinobi, and you wish for Konoha nins to be ambassadors to your country. Which is called..."

"It doesn't really have a name," Temujin admitted. "Sad to say, war has been a part of our culture, and we've never known life without it. I don't even know what people kill each other for. I haven't been there nearly as long as Kaori, since Haido-sama found and took me in at a very young age."

"In your message, you mentioned the villagers shunning those with, er, talents."

Temujin glanced at Kaori, who refused to meet his gaze. "The people are...most of them...typically anyone who's different is treated horribly and often times executed. Sometimes there's a trial,but Kaori-san..." Temujin clamped his mouth shut. He fidgeted a moment before continuing. "I shall stay here for a few days and then return to my country. You having the shard of Gelel stone will cut down on communication time. I would like to send a request for ambassadors when I feel things are prepared there."

"We shall conduct interviews among the Shinobi and even civilians to find suitable teams to send you," Tsunade promised. "Now about this training. Things have improved here, but that doesn't mean I can just spare teachers for one girl who grew up on the wrong side of the sea."

Kaori gritted her teeth but remained silent. Temujin flinched, searching for words to explain the situation.

"I..made a promise not to discuss anything without Kaori-san's permission. Honestly I don't know as much about her as I would like to. However, I believe she is disciplined and hard-working enough for your teachers. She's a sailor for a shipyard and is accustomed to teamwork. I doubt anything I say will convince you, and I doubt she'll say anything to convince you. Hokage-sama, I am asking this as an act of good will. I don't think you should 'spare' teachers, but let her show you what she can do so far without instruction."

Tsunade studied Kaori, who returned her gaze this time. "Okay, Kaori-san. Give us a demonstration."

Kaori swallowed and pushed away her chair. She started when she saw two older men flanking the door. One was cooly leaning against the wall while the other stood attentively. The former was tall with even taller silver hair, the latter sporting his brown locks in a ponytail atop his head. Now she felt even more nervous, for they looked like important people. She glanced at Temujin, her eyes asking him what to do.

"Do what you did when the raiders boarded the _Inazuma_," Temujin said.

Kaori grew angry as she thought of the droves of pikes embedded in the _Inazuma_'s hull. She held her arms slightly away from her body, her hands outstretched. And she focused.

Tsunade couldn't for the life of her place what kind of technique this could be, a small part reminding herself that Kaori couldn't have learned any justus. Her eyes widened appreciatively as two blue-hued short swords appeared in each hand. Chakra swords. She studied Kaori, who was very focused but also very in control. Kaori's eyes flitted to her chair, then with almost clumsy swings hacked at it. It took two swings from one arm and one from the other to clove the furniture in two. Before the pieces clattered to the floor, the swords had disappeared and Kaori was out of breath.

"Whaaaaaat?" came a screech from outside the window. The company looked to the panes to see Naruto dangling upside down from the hands of a Naruto replication. Having seen Kaori's display, he forgot himself. Upon being discovered, he dropped himself. Crashes could be heard far below as the shadow clones accidently dropped the real Naruto.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temples. "Temujin, would you mind going to see if he's all right?"

"Of course not." Temujin couldn't resist a smile. "Should I invite him to come back in?"

Tsunade waved her hand. "Just go, please."

Kaori was ill at ease when she was suddenly left alone in the office with three important people. And she was the focus of attention.

"Kaori, the Shinobi behind you are Hatake Kakashi and Umino Iruka." Tsunade pointed consecutively. "I've called them here in specific discussion of you. Iruka-sensei, since you would handle the initial instruction of a student, what would be your decision based on what you saw here?"

Iruka stepped forward, stroking his chin. "Since she has no inkling of ninjas, Chakra, or jutsus, I would say a basic education is the top priority. Fortunately, unlike my other students she has a grasp on life and its realities. Am I correct?"

Kaori smiled slightly and nodded her head. Iruka put her at ease, and if she understood correctly, he would be instructing her.

"Kakashi-sensei? Your thoughts?"

Kakashi appeared to yawn beneath his mask. His visible eye blinked slowly as he pondered Kaori. It was unnerving; it felt like he could see right through her.

"She has no talents as a ninja and couldn't possibly hope to develop any."

Kaori blanched at this.

"Sure, she made weapons out of chakra," Kakashi continued, "but they lasted nor more than two minutes and it took several swipes to take out a mere chair. Control is impressive, but she lacks in every other area required of a Shinobi. A lost cause, and those are my thoughts."

Kaori was bright red at this criticism. Problem was, she felt as though Kakashi knew what he was talking about. He didn't look like the sort to screw around. Iruka whacked the other nin's arm with the back of his hand. Tsunade rubbed her temple once more.

"Iruka, you are willing to train Kaori-san?"

"Yes," Iruka answered positively. He gave Kaori a slight thumbs-up.

Tsunade sat in her chair. "You will have one month to teach Kaori the ninja basics, after which we will have another meeting to demonstrate progress, and Kakashi will again give us a review. Essentially, Iruka-sensei, Kaori-san's future as a Shinobi lies in your hands."

The door flung open and a battered, sweaty Naruto burst in.

"What'd I miss?" he yelled.

"Only the induction of the oldest person in the history of Konoha to the Ninja Academy," Iruka said with a smile.

"Huh?"

Temujin grabbed Kaori into a big hug, while Iruka rustled Naruto's hair. Kakashi had already slunk out, and Tsunade stared at Naruto in disbelief.


	3. Ramen and Reading

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 3: Ramen and Reading

"Ichiraku Ramen is the best in the world," Naruto bragged. "I usually just go there to eat, but it's also a great place to celebrate stuff too!" Naruto eyed Kaori. "What are we celebrating for?"

"Ah, Naruto, be nice," Temujin chucked Naruto's shoulder.

"And how can you've never eaten ramen before?"

"I've spent most of my life sailing," Kaori sighed. "Ramen isn't very practical on a ship and won't keep well."

"Don't worry, Kaori. I've never had ramen either."

"Never had ramen!" Naruto was stunned. How could a human being live without having ever tasted the delicacy? They sat at the counter, the owner all too pleased to serve Naruto.

"Three bowls, on me," Naruto declared. He felt himself bouncing in anticipation of the hot noodles. When his bowl was placed in front of him, Naruto nearly swallowed the entire dish. He paused a moment to glance at Temujin. He didn't look particularly impressed, which ruffled Naruto quite a bit. He looked at Kaori, who had an elated expression on her face as she slurped the ramen up.

"You like it?" Naruto asked.

"Mm." Kaori didn't pause a moment to bother with speech. Feeling pleased with himself, Naruto looked back to Temujin.

"What do you think?"

"Eh, I'm partial to sweets myself. It's okay."

"Okay!" Naruto puffed his cheeks, insulted that someone didn't absolutely love ramen. He growled and returned to his bowl, only to find it empty. He looked around, up, down, looking for spilt ramen. Kaori was still devouring her own bowl.

"Hey, you had the yellow bowl! Mine's that grey one!" Naruto pointed accusingly. "You stole my ramen!"

Slurping up the last noodle, Kaori peeked at him sheepishly. "Sorry, were you going to finish that?"

"Hrm." Naruto ordered another bowl, irritated, but also hiding that he was impressed that she would dare steal ramen from him.

"Are you starting school tomorrow?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah." Kaori wiped her chin with her sleeve.

"I...I think I'll take you to the school. Would that be okay?" Naruto grinned.

"That would be nice." Kaori beamed back.

"I'll be leaving tomorrow," Temujin said suddenly. Naruto and Kaori stared at him.

"But you just got here..." Naruto began.

"You can't just leave!" Kaori said at the same time.

"I only need one night's rest, and then I'd like to return home as quickly as possible. I'm needed there."

Kaori crossed her arms and growled.

"Don't worry about yourself," Temujin smiled. "There are great people here that will take care of you."

"I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried about..._you_ know."

"This is a new place. Maybe the...you know, won't bother you here."

Naruto glanced back and forth, aware he was sitting right in the middle of a curious conversation. Before Naruto could ask questions, Temujin stood.

"I must rest now. Kaori should rest too. Thank you for the ramen, Naruto."

"No problem." Naruto settled himself in front of his fresh bowl. "See you in the morning."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kaori sat on her bed, shaking slightly. Most adventures made her excited, jittery, but going to school on invitation for the first time was scary. Plus, everything familiar was gone. The village was beautiful but strange. The people welcome but suspicious. Naruto seemed to have gotten past his initial suspicions, but he was mild compared to what she'd encountered through her life. And now her only companion was going to be gone.

She slowly followedTemujin outside, where Neji and Lee were waiting to escort Temujin back to the shore. She gave them nods, but otherwise kept her head down and remained silent. Lee seemed to be an okay character, even though his appearance was a bit startling. But Neji creeped her out. His eyes and demeanor made him seem as if he thought himself better than everyone else. It could have been true, but she wasn't going to test him.

"I don't know if we'll ever see each other again, Kaori," Temujin said with sad green eyes. "But leave me a message with your Gelel stone if you need to talk."

"Okay," Kaori said quietly. Temujin gave her a tight hug before slinging his pack over his shoulder.

"'Bye, Naruto," Temujin called past Kaori. Naruto bounded from the apartment and waved enthusiastically.

"'Bye, Temujin, and eat more ramen!"

Temujin made a face, then smiled and turned away. Naruto and Kaori watched them until the buildings hid them from sight.

"How could he not like ramen?" Naruto wondered.

"I know!" Kaori agreed. She glanced shyly at Naruto. He tilted his head and observed her.

"Is something wrong?"

Kaori sighed. "I'm starting school in a strange place with strange people. Back home...when I was little, they wouldn't let me. I mean, I wasn't allowed to...I'm freaked."

"You're strong," Naruto said positively.

"Not strong enough. Did you hear what Kakashi-sama said about me?"

"It takes a strong person to admit when they're scared."

Kaori glanced at Naruto. He was grinning foolishly, but it was disarming and inviting.

"Thanks, Naruto."

"No problem. Time for class?"

"Time for class," Kaori gulped.

Naruto chattered non-stop on the way to the school, mostly about ramen. Kaori didn't care what he talked about, for he made her laugh with his animated manner. He had irritated her at first, but now she realized that his bluntness and scorn was endearing.

"I feel like everyone's watching me," Kaori sighed.

"Of course they are. You look weird!" Naruto continued forward, his hands behind his head.

"Geez, thanks."

"Ninja Academy!" Naruto announced, dramatically pointing to a building. "This is where I was taught all about ninja. Well not all, because Kakashi-sensei and Ero-sennin taught me loads of stuff to be more powerful..." Naruto chattered away, unaware that Kaori was ill at ease. She shamed herself, for she should be thrilled for the opportunity the Konoha ninjas were giving her. Yet ever since Kakashi had rejected her as a ninja, she felt there was no other hope for her in the world. Her strange power had set her apart and now put her in a place with others of strange power. She didn't feel so welcome as she thought she might.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted, taking a running leap inside a classroom.

"Gagh! Naruto! You're too big for that anymore!" Iruka scolded as Naruto leapt on his back.

"Getting old, Sensei?"

"Never," Iruka promised before shucking Naruto from his back. "Kaori, it's a pleasure to see you again." He held out his hand, which Kaori stared at.

"Ahem." Iruka withdrew his hand and placed it on his hip. "I figured we'd start with an overview of the history of ninjas, then follow with the basics. Chakra, weapons, physical training. Then we'd move on to basic techniques _everyone_," Iruka said pointedly to Naruto, "must learn to graduate and receive a forehead protector."

"I _did _learn them. Mostly."

"I have some scrolls that I've marked sections in that I'd like you to read."

"What? You're going to make her read? Why not teach her Bunshin no Jutsu? Or Kawarimi no Jutsu? Henge no Jutsu?"

Iruka sighed and grabbed Naruto by his shoulder. "Yes, I know you have a thorough knowledge of basic techniques, but Kaori does not."

"She doesn't even know what a Jounin is!" Naruto protested as Iruka manhandled him out the door.

"Exactly why I'm teaching her the history of Shinobi."

"I should teach her how to kick the bad guys' asses!"

"Why do you think Tsunade asked me to teach and not you?"

"Uh, 'cause you're a teacher?" Naruto guessed, shoved into the hall.

"Bingo." Iruka shut the door firmly.

"I'm coming back at two!" Naruto called before pattering away.

Iruka sighed. "He's worse now that he's as big as I am."

Kaori had watched the interaction with amusement. Iruka gestured for her to sit, then placed one scroll in front of her.

"First thing to study is the history of Konoha. Assuming you become a ninja, you will be affiliated with us, and therefore should be familiar with the Fire Country's past. Just let me know when you're done and I'll answer any questions and ask some of my own, then I'll give you the next scroll." Iruka sat at the desk and began perusing homework assignments.

Kaori stared blankly at the scroll. As if starting school hadn't been nerve-wracking enough, she discovered something she'd never been aware of. But how could she tell the man? Godaime would change her mind about educating a foreign ninja. They'd send her back, Temujin would be disappointed, her crew mates would say they told her so, and she would keep receiving the cold shoulder from all civilians.

_No, I won't do that again. This is my only chance,_ Kaori argued with herself fiercely.

"Is there something wrong?" Iruka asked.

Kaori looked up suddenly, catching his expression. His small black eyes were filled with concern.

"I, uh," Kaori began, feeling flustered. She rarely had felt so incompetent in her life as she had in the past two days.

"If you have a question don't be afraid to ask. That's what I'm here for." Iruka smiled kindly. He hadn't guessed after all.

"Erm, Sensei? I...can't rea..."

"What's that?"

Kaori's face felt like it was on fire ."I can't read, Sensei."

Iruka chuckled, then froze as he noticed her state of being. "Oh. Um...oh."

She was completely mortified at this point. "It's not like I'm stupid or anything, Sensei. I mean, I learn very well through watching and doing. But I've never...I've never been allowed to go to school, and no one ever bothered to teach me how to read. Or write," she added, feeling that she'd better get that one out on the table too. Iruka sat there a moment, completely unsure of himself. Then he stood.

"I, uh, must see Hokage-sama. You...just don't leave." He left the room hastily, and Kaori was left with silence and a very hot face. She wasn't going to stay. Captain had been right; she didn't belong anywhere but on the _Inazuma_.

Kaori left the room with forced calm, but inside she was desperate to destroy something. Temujin had gotten her so hopeful for a better life instead of one with the rest of society's rejects: the sailors on the _Inazuma_. She belonged there, but something told her there was more for someone as "special" as her. Now where the hell was she supposed to go?

She walked for a long while, uncaring as to whether or not she knew where she was going. There was a forest area with paths and benches and an occasional drinking fountain. When she felt she'd walked far enough, she plopped on a bench and pitied herself. What to do now...

"Kaori?" A sweaty Naruto dropped from a tree nearby.

"Naruto."

"Now that's not fair," Naruto crossed his arms grumpily. "Iruka-sensei never gave _us_ breaks when we were in school."

"I'm not really-"

"Who's this?" came a female voice from the trees. A pink-haired woman with a jacket matching Naruto's landed next to him. She was sweaty and dirty too.

"What were you guys doing?" Kaori asked suspiciously.

"Training," Naruto said proudly. "No such thing as too much training."

"In how much time? Half an hour?"

"We train hard!" Naruto smirked at Sakura, who gave him a questioning look. "Oh! Sakura-chan, this is Kaori-san. She came with Temujin yesterday to be trained as a ninja."

"Temujin!" Sakura's green eyes widened. "Why didn't he say hello?"

"He's gone now. Hey, hey, where's Sasuke? I want him to meet Kaori too!"

"He's on a mission," Sakura sighed. "A solo mission."

"Hm, ah well. She can meet the rest of Team Kakashi later."

"Team Kakashi?" Kaori started. "You mean that Hatake Kakashi is your leader?"

"_Was_ our leader," Sakura corrected. "There isn't any Team Kakashi anymore. We're all equals now. We still get assigned missions together, but it was never meant to be a permanent team."

"We're still the best." Naruto squinted his eyes at Kaori. "What are _you _doing out here?"

"I..."

"Was just waiting for me to get out of a meeting with Hokage-sama." Iruka landed behind the bench. "I'm done, Kaori-san. We can continue back at the Academy."

"But I just-" Kaori caught Iruka's eye and stopped. "Aye, aye, Sensei. Nice meeting you Sakura-san."

"Same to you, Kaori-san." Sakura watched the pair leave, then turned to Naruto. "Why do you want that girl to meet Sasuke-kun?"

"Because she's all alone right now and needs us to be her friends," Naruto said simply, putting his hands behind his head.

"But why Sasuke-kun? Why not Kiba or Hinata or Lee? They're friendly enough."

"But I want her to meet us. Team Kakashi. You say the team doesn't exist anymore, but it does for me."

"Sasuke-kun is so far away though. In his mind." Sakura grew regretful.

"Ah, Sasuke'll get over it," Naruto promised. "But, are you ever going to get over him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I have more training to do." Sakura turned away and leapt into the trees.

"That's what I though," Naruto muttered before leaping in another direction.


	4. Greying and Gifts

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 4: Greying and Gifts

Iruka waited until Kaori had reseated herself, though all manner of comfort had fled the room when Naruto left earlier. She stared at Iruka expectantly; he wouldn't have found and brought her back if he didn't have something to tell her.

"I spoke with Hokage-sama," Iruka began, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. "I explained the...situation to her. She agreed that one month wasn't nearly enough time to prepare you adequately for Kakashi-sempai's test. So we've extended the time to four months, which still isn't enough in my opinion, but she doesn't want to keep me on this mission any longer than that."

"Mission?" Kaori asked curiously.

"Well, I'm getting paid, and I have specific goals and instructions, so it's pretty much a mission." Iruka held his hands up and shrugged his shoulders at Kaori's expression. "Don't worry, I'm not doing this because I have to. I was asked and decided on my own. After your demonstration of course."

"Kakashi-sensei didn't like it," Kaori muttered.

Iruka pondered a moment. "I don't know Kakashi very well, and most of what I've heard of him has came from Naruto. He was praising and awed at how cool his sensei was. I admit, I was jealous. But even though they're good friends now, Naruto said the first thing Kakashi had said to his team when they met was that he hated them."

"He takes some getting used to, huh?"

"I suppose." Iruka grabbed a few scrolls and sat next to Kaori. "Okay, we have only three months to do this, and we want your second impression to better, right?"

"Aye, Sensei!" Kaori saluted smartly.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

September quickly faded into the fall season with glorious golden and amber leaves in Konohagakure. Kaori spent all time and energy training in literacy. Naruto had helped her move out of the guest suite in the apartment building and into cozier living quarters in another building. Kaori didn't have much in the way of personal items, and she refused to start collecting until she knew she'd be a permanent resident. Naruto argued that there's no way she couldn't be, but Kaori clammed up when it came to Kakashi. Naruto suspected she didn't like him very much, but he reminded himself that he thought Kakashi was a big idiot at first too. Eager to teach her tricks and jutsus, Naruto helped with her training so that she might soon move past the reading and onto the basic techniques.

Iruka was startled to discover how intellectual Kaori was. He assumed sailors to be dimwitted and illiterate, and he was partially correct. Kaori said there was no need to read or write when one was a sailor; only the captain and first mate needed those skills. But she encountered all sorts of people from all over, though she'd never officially met a ninja. She learned much from them, and while most of the knowledge couldn't be applied to everyday life as a sailor, she would surprise Iruka with strange tidbits one wouldn't think an uneducated sailor would know. Her grammar was well-developed as well. Iruka would watch her and Naruto when they left for the day, Kaori speaking animatedly to her friend. He would shake his head and wonder how Naruto could make friends so easily.

Kaori didn't see Sakura again before the tenth of October. Her focus was on reading and studying, while Sakura kept busy with missions. Kaori suspected Naruto was slacking off in order to be around to teach her "cool new jutsus". When asked why he wasn't doing missions like Sakura and Kakashi, his face would screw up and he'd go train. Iruka's echoed her thoughts on the matter.

"He won't have to wait around any longer," Iruka shook his head. "Kaori, I think you're ready to move past the history. Reading and writing isn't something you can just learn. Like techniques, they take time to develop to their full potential. You will be required to hone your skills as homework, but there's not much else I can teach you now. I think it's time we move our lessons outdoors while it's still warm."

Kaori perked at the suggestion, being much more comfortable in the open air. Iruka held up his hand to stop her.

"We'll start tomorrow."

She sighed and sat back down, not bothering to conceal her disappointment. Iruka hid a smile.

"However, today is a special day that requires a bit of...celebration. It's Naruto's seventeenth birthday. He officially comes-of-age today."

"Oh, that's why I didn't see him this morning!"

"Yes, I imagine he's sulking," Iruka admitted. "He's never had an actual birthday celebration, and I think he even passes through the day without realizing he's a year older."

"Never had a birthday celebration?" Kaori said thoughtfully. "I don't even know my actual birth date but my 'mates picked one so we could have an excuse to get drunk. We came up with lots of reasons to get drunk." Kaori cleared her throat. "Anyway, you were saying?"

Iruka's eye twitched slightly in irritation. "Naruto's birthday. I made arrangements to have his former teammates in town for the party. Actually, it's not much of a party, since I'm not very good at that sort of thing."

"I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Naruto," Kaori said quietly. "I don't know him extremely well, but what I gather is he's been alone for most of his life?"

Iruka nodded, glancing absent-mindedly at his hands. "Do you know why?"

"Not exactly, but I'll sail that bar when I get to it." Kaori began staring at her own hands. "I get the feeling that he's a lot like me. Alone most of my life. Even though I live with a couple dozen other people, none of them are really friends. 'Mates is what we are. There are different rules with 'mates. Naruto and I, we're the same. Except Naruto's confident and noisy and it's so...so..."

"Attractive?" Iruka suggested.

Kaori smiled in amusement, then shook her head. "Endearing. I find him endearing."

"So will you come to my party?"

"Will there be sake?"

Iruka's eye twitched again. Kaori laughed.

"I'm kidding, Sensei. You should lighten up."

"I'm throwing Naruto a surprise party! What more do you want?"

"When's your birthday?"

Kaori's question caught Iruka off-guard. He blinked, then tilted his head.

"Why?"

"Enlighten me, Sensei. Isn't that what you're supposed to do?"

"May 26."

Kaori smiled sweetly. "Expect a surprise party."

"If you tell me it's not much of a surprise, is it?"

"Well, the actual events would be a surprise. Maybe some female dancers, a fountain of sake, lots of gambling machines...the works." The sweet smile turned mischievous. Iruka's eyes widened with each event named, then shook his finger at her.

"I'm too old for that sort of thing."

"Jiraiya-sama's not."

Iruka started. "You've met Jiraiya?"

"No, but I've heard a lot from Naruto. Hey, what should I get him?"

"Well, he really likes ramen. And ramen. And Sakura. And ramen."

"That's a load of help. Thanks, Sensei," Kaori snorted.

"Do me a favour," Iruka said. "Call me Iruka. I'm not that much older than you, and calling me sensei makes me feel...old."

"Enough reminders from the morning aches and pops, eh?"

Iruka swung at Kaori, who hopped away and flipped out the doorway.

"Oh, and Naruto's already taught me a few things, Iruka-sensei," Kaori called back. "Better get the old bones into gear and catch up before he takes your student away!"

Iruka's eye began twitching, but he touched his brow to stop the spasm. He really did need to lighten up. A few more hours and he'd prove to Kaori (and everyone for that matter) that he wasn't the board-stiff Chuunin he was five years ago. He was still Chuunin though.

Iruka sighed. He'd kept putting the Jounin exam off, thinking he'd get around to it. Now he was nearly thirty and he doubted his talents against younger, more energetic Jounin-hopefuls. He'd found two grey hairs a month ago and had proceeded to rip them out. Premature greying was not what he needed; what he needed was a break from youngsters and their endless energy. At any rate, he told himself two hairs was nothing compared to Kakashi's entire head. If greying became a problem (which it wouldn't, couldn't!), he could always use henge no jutsu to cover up. If Tsunade used the technique and didn't get any flak for it, surely he wouldn't.

He sighed again. If anything, it would give people more things to gossip about, and already he'd heard that his new student was a foreigner brought in to train to be Hokage when Tsunade was done.

Iruka glanced at the door, where Kaori had been a moment earlier. She hardly cared for her own life, much less anyone else's. She was the next to last Hokage contender.

He was the last.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Iruka smiled at the developments of Naruto's party. It had been easier than he thought, and much easier than teaching. Perhaps he'd found his calling after all. Who needed to be Jounin when parties were begging to be planned all around Konoha?

He was holding the party at the Ninja Academy, his own apartment hardly being large enough for several people. Sometimes he wondered if it was large enough for himself. He was paid reasonably, but time was an issue and his home would never be clean or organized. Which just would not do.

Orange and black was the base for the decorations, following Naruto's preferred colours. There was the fake cake, and then a real one was hidden in his office. He'd used detention students as helpers to move the tables and chairs out of his old classroom.

"Your stage is ready to go," Hagane Kotetsu said proudly, using his forehead protector's band to wipe his face. "I'm going home to change before people see me like this."

"The cake is ready too," Kamizuki Izumo chimed in. "Just a little turn of the icing here and the little door opens. The top is soft enough for fingernails to slice open. Who's going to be inside?"

"That's a surprise, guys. Thanks for your help. Stop by for some cake later."

"No thanks," Kotetsu yawned. "But the only parties we crash have barrels of sake. Remember you promised us one for helping?"

"Only when you've helped clean up, too," Iruka warned. "I'm not doing this by myself."

"Sure you are, Iruka-amai," Izumo grinned wickedly.

"What out, he'll give you the Twitching Eye," Kotetsu gasped.

Iruka's eye twitched as he aimed a sandaled foot at Kotetsu, who danced away laughing maniacally.

"Don't you have some filing to do?" he asked, irritated by their jesting.

"C'mon, Izumo-kun, let's find our own barrel. Iruka-amai probably doesn't even know where to find sake."

"Have fun with the kids, Iruka-amai!" Izumo waggled his hand and pranced after Kotetsu.

Iruka tapped his forehead, willing himself calm. His character flaw was his tendency to overreact, but he had to deal with so many idiots in his life that he assumed everyone was an idiot. Whether he meant to or not. But while Izumo and Kotetsu were talented ninjas, they were idiots. They'd been that way since he graduated the Ninja Academy with them.

_A short boy with spiky black hair drew the picture, his only obvious talents were art and trickery. Another boy with long brown hair twisted atop his head smeared the gelatin all over the floor behind the desk. An innocent-looking youngster took his seat, black hair over one eye as he hid a camera in his lap. It wasn't the first time they'd shown up to class early. And unless they were kicked out for their pranks, they'd keep showing up and tormenting their sensei._

_They'd finished by the time the first student arrived. The camera-hider had no need for feigned innocence; his wide-eyed look could deter any blame even if he was guilty. The pony-tailed boy had mastered his own innocent look, while the spike-haired kid couldn't hide his mischievous expression even if he screwed his eyes closed._

_Their sensei suspected nothing until he faced his class and saw nearly every student choking with silent laughter. Everything happened in slow motion: Sensei turning to see a detailed drawing of him and a voluptuous young lady guzzling tankards of sake; his ears turned bright red, and as he strode forward to erase the offensive drawing, he slipped on the clear gelatin; the camera flashed._

The picture was on each of the trio's refrigerators. Iruka's was right next to a picture of his parents. Shortly after that last incident, the Kyuubi Fox Demon had attacked Konoha and killed his parents. After that he lost all interest in pranks and devoted his life to the way of the Shonobi.

Besides overreacting, Iruka had a bad habit of coming down hard on his more lax students. Deep inside he was afraid they'd turn out like him. He'd managed to soften the foolish edges on most of his students, but he'd utterly failed on one. And now he was throwing him a surprise birthday party. And though he didn't like to play favourites, Naruto would always be his favourite student.

"Because he's like me," Iruka mused, running his hand over the chalkboard. He eyed the clock; it read 5:30. Naruto had been sent a message by Tsunade that there was an important Jounin meeting in Room 108 at the Ninja Academy. Utmost secrecy was required. Or course, it failed to mention that Naruto was the only told to show up at six o'clock. The rest of the surprisers would arrive now.

Everyone Iruka had approached about the celebration showed up within next ten minutes, with the exception of Uchiha Sasuke, Tsunade, Kakashi (though that was expected) and Kaori. The stage was piled with presents, with a space in the middle for Naruto to enjoy the spotlight.

Being as large as a horse, Akamaru was stationed outside the building to warn them of Naruto's approach. When the dog yiped as quietly as his monstrous vocal chords would allow, Inuzuka Kiba shouted above the din that the guest of honour was on the premises. There was a mad scramble for lights, spots to wait, and a place to hide bottles that had been snuck in under Iruka's nose.

There was a sound outside the door, it slid open, a tall silhouette inside the frame. A hand flipped on the lights.

"Surprise!" the crowd roared, only to diminish pitifully as they saw it was Kakashi.

"Oh, sorry about being late," Kakashi's eye grinned sheepishly. He scratched the back of his head. "I needed a present but every shop in town was closed."

"Liar!" Sakura growled, pointing a finger accusingly. Kakashi stepped forward, aloof to all the irritated looks he was getting for ruining the mood.

Iruka shook his head, then began calming people down to prepare for Naruto's actual arrival.

"Hey, hey, what's going on? Am I that late?"

Everyone froze staring back at a squint-eyed Naruto. He glanced at the people and the decorations, then at Kakashi, who was obviously the centre of attention.

"Is this the right room?" Naruto spotted Iruka. "Hey! You're not a Jounin, Iruka-sensei!"

_So I've been told_, Iruka sighed to himself, hanging his head in his hands. The surprise was an utter failure.

"Oh, Happy Birthday Naruto!" Kakashi said cheerfully, as if that was what was supposed to happen. With that, the rest of the room erupted with hollers and whoops. Naruto was so shocked he jumped back out the door. But he bounded back in with so much energy he bowled over Kakashi. Naruto headed for his presents immediately, his face elated at the attention.

Iruka sat to the side, enjoying Naruto's reaction to the party, but also highly disappointed. The surprise was the biggest element after all, and Kakashi had spoiled it.

"Lighten up, Iruka-sensei," teased a voice. Kaori stood over him, tilting her head in question. "Not having a good time?"

Iruka sighed. "Things aren't going as planned."

"Naruto looks like he's having a good time," Kaori observed. "Sorry I was late. It too longer than expected to get my present for him, but I wanted to do something special. Especially since this is his first party."

A large cake was wheeled out, and Naruto's blue eyes sparkled at its immenseness. He held his hands out to it, like he was going to take a chunk then and there, when suddenly the top popped off and out flew a frosting-clad woman with long brown hair and big brown eyes. Kaori's jaw dropped at the spectacle, which was also the expression on nearly every other face around her. The woman giggled and blew kisses at the audience, and two guys dropped to their knees with nosebleeds. Naruto was laughing hysterically.

"You've gotten better at the Oiroke no Jutsu...Konohamaru!" he jeered.

The woman winked, then grinned toothily, and with a puff turned into a gangly kid with brown hair and brown eyes. He pointed dramatically at Naruto.

"Just what I'd expect for my rival for the title of Hokage!"

The two guys who had fainted with nosebleeds felt quite foolish when they came to. Kaori turned back to Iruka, who was shaking his head and smiling.

"Feeling better now, Sensei?" she grinned.

"Kaori!"

She turned to be attacked with a hug from Naruto.

"I didn't see you here and thought maybe you weren't going to come!"

"Well, Iruka-sensei asked me to come. Otherwise, I don't know if I would have. It's kind of a private celebration, don't you think? With your friends?"

"Kaori-baka," Naruto snorted, "you are my friend too! Besides, I saw Tsunade-baachan's assistants drinking in the corner and flirting with the girls. One has a piece of cloth over his face."

Iruka stood suddenly. "Excuse me. I have a couple slackers to talk to."

"Hey, hey, I was opening presents. Come watch!"

"Oh, I have one too." Kaori held out small card.

Naruto peered at it. "Akumako Kaori. Employee. What is this?"

"You don't recognize the company name?"

"Ichiraku Ramen. Ichiraku Ramen! You work there! Since when?"

"Today," Kaori said proudly. "Teuchi-sama's daughter is on her honeymoon for two weeks, and he said he could use help. If I work out, he'll keep me around after she gets back. And I arranged things with him so that whenever I'm working I'll make you a free bowl of ramen!"

Kaori's last few words were the best news Naruto had ever heard. With a hearty cheer he leapt upon her, nearly knocking her over. Kaori struggled to remain standing during the hug, but she found herself teetering backwards, right into a hard body.

"S-sorry, sir. He's a little heavy for..." Kaori trailed off when she saw Naruto's expression. He'd lost his joyfulness and looked peeved. He let go of her and nodded past her.

"Sasuke," he said quietly.


	5. Meetings and Misconceptions

Caranril: I meant to get all the chappies up that I've already published, but I ran out of time proof-reading last night. Do what I can, but a new chappie will be up soon. And Naruto's element being Wind? I wrote that before that manga chapter with the Chakra paper was released. I SO called it!

Legolas: And now, for my new job.

Caranril: Yes, for I decided he ought to get promoted for doing such a good job on "The Dark Before the Dawn". Now he's thanking reviewers, ain't that right, Lego-kun?

Legolas: Aye! Thanks to Benney, just for reviewing.

Caranril: Enjoy, y'all.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 5: Meetings and Misconceptions

The room had gone silent. Kaori stepped away from the man behind her and turned around. He wore a black cloak that paled next to his ebony hair. His skin was so white he looked monochromatic. Even his small eyes were black. His face was passive, which Naruto's expression completely opposed.

"Naruto," he responded. He lifted an arm through his cloak and offered a large package to him.

Naruto crossed his arms and stared at the taller man. "What are you doing here?"

"Happy Birthday," the grim man said.

"I asked him to come," Iruka said hurriedly, appearing next to Naruto. "He is your friend after all."

"Yeah, but he owes me a fight." Naruto's face was completely serious.

"Naruto, do you really think this is the time or place?" Iruka glanced about the room in emphasis. The tension had increased dramatically, and everyone was waiting for something to happen.

Naruto suddenly laughed. "Sasuke-temee, it's good to see you again! Where have you been lately?" He heartily smacked Sasuke on the shoulder. Sasuke managed to form a grimace-like expression, but it seemed enough for the party-goers. They returned to their ruckus, which allowed Kaori and Iruka to sigh with relief. Iruka gave Kaori a tired smile before returning to bargain with the slackers in the corner.

"Don't tell me you were worried about me, Naruto," Sasuke muttered.

"Hah, about you? Never!" Naruto chortled. "No, no, there's someone I want you to meet. Kaori, this is the fourth member of Team Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke."

"Naruto, there's no more-"

"Yeah I _know_!"

Kaori held her hand out. "I can't guarantee I'll remember your name, Sasuke-san, mostly because I'm horrible with names, but it's good...to...meet..." She dropped her hand as Sasuke stared at it blankly.

"Naruto, I told you to stop introducing me to your girlfriends. I'm not interested."

Naruto's eyes widened. He glanced at Kaori, who had her arms crossed and her head cocked.

"As flattering as it is that you think I'm Naruto's girlfriend, he's single right now. And I'm just wondering one thing..." Kaori's mouth drew into a charming smile. "Who stuck that kunai up your ass?" Her smile instantly fell into a glower, and she stalked away. Naruto scratched his head sheepishly.

"Oh, yeah. She's not my girlfriend."

Sasuke looked only slightly mollified. He regained his passive composure and looked back at Naruto.

"I realize...I haven't been around," he said hesitantly. "But I need..."

"Time. I know." Naruto grinned. "Take all the time you need, but one of these days I'm gonna get a rise out of you and a fight!"

Sasuke smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke lost his smile immediately. He rolled his eyes, which made Naruto laugh and wave as he returned to his guests.

"You've change Sasuke, but not that much!" Naruto said gleefully. The only reason he didn't still hate Sasuke for capturing the hearts of every girl in Konoha was because he had his own group of admirers now. Even though Sasuke hardly spoke to anyone or hung out anywhere, Naruto was glad he was back. He didn't know what had happened to change Sasuke, but he was slowly getting back to normal. If anything, the Sasuke fan club would _help _bring back the good old days.

Naruto glanced at the business card Kaori had given him. He grinned, imagining a free bowl of ramen everyday. He glanced about, spotting Kaori near the door, looking lost and ready to make a break for it. That wouldn't do. Naruto popped up next to her and grabbed her arm.

"Let's introduce you to people."

"I'm not very good at names," Kaori stuttered.

"I know, but with my help you'll have no problems at all!"

"Actually," Kaori whispered, "I'm not very good with people. You saw how I 'met' Sasuke. I've always been...different. And I hate crowds. Whenever we had passengers on the _Inazuma_, I stayed aloft because I couldn't handle the crowding. Don't make me do it, Naruto."

Naruto stared at her through slit eyes. "How old are you?"

"I told you before."

"Then stop acting like a child." Naruto dragged her to a trio who were laughing hysterically.

"Hey, Naruto. Happy Birthday!" A young man with narrow eyes and red streaks on his cheeks held his glass up. A short girl facing away jumped and turned around quickly. She tapped her forefingers together nervously.

"Hello, Naruto-kun," she said quietly. Her eyes were opaque like Neji's, but they didn't stare through Kaori like she was nothing. The third party member, who hid behind a high-collared jacket and sunglasses, merely nodded.

"Hey, guys. Remember I told you about the new foreign ninja I was training?" Naruto pointed at Kaori, who smiled sheepishly. "Kiba, Hinata, Shino, this is Kaori."

"Ah, learned any cool jutsus from Naruto yet?" Kiba growled, flashing pointy white teeth.

"Ah, no. We start that tomorrow."

"Since when have you been a teacher, Naruto?" Shino asked.

"Since Tsunade-'baachan let me," Naruto puffed his cheeks. "Is that so hard to believe?"

Kaori watched Hinata, whose fingers were working furiously as she debated whether or not to speak.

"Keep going," Naruto huffed, pulling Kaori away. He introduced her to a large young man by the name of Chouji who was hoarding the buffet table. Naruto whispered later that his techniques depending on being "big-boned", as was Chouji's preferred description.

Tenten and Neji were speaking together, but Kaori was hesitant to dwell anywhere within Neji's sight. Lee was talking animatedly to a man who looked like an older version of himself. Gai was his name, and he was quite full of himself. Just the same, Kaori felt Lee deserved no less of a man for a sensei. As they parted, Gai hinted at a long-time rivalry he had with Kakashi. Kaori thought this quite interesting and asked Naruto about it.

"Eh? I don't know much about that," Naruto muttered. "Kakashi-sensei never said anything about having a rival, but Gai-sensei is always talking about it. Fuzzy eyebrows would be a better person to ask about that."

Naruto caught a Jounin couple on their way out the door. Asuma and Kurenai congratulated Naruto on his big day and excused themselves to go in search of sake. Iruka had confiscated their secret stash.

Naruto led Kaori back to Sasuke, who was drenched with ogling girls. Many of which Naruto didn't know and who had shown up because they'd followed Sasuke. Naruto tried to pry Ino off so she could meet Kaori, but all the blond did was glare at Naruto for his interruption and stab Kaori to death with her eyes. Naruto gave up despite the looks of desolation on Sasuke's face. Kaori only sneered when their eyes met. She found the situation to be very amusing, and her expression told Sasuke so. He rewarded her with a nasty glare.

"I don't get it," Kaori commented as they continued around the room. "He's not that attractive, and he's got a horrible personality. What could all those girl see in him?"

"I guess _they _think he's hot," Naruto shrugged. "But it's also because he's the Uchiha."

"_The _Uchiha?"

Naruto looked at the ceiling, debating his choice of words. "About ten years ago, Sasuke's older brother killed everyone in the Uchiha clan. It's a long story and no one really knows what happened in the years Sasuke was gone, except maybe Tsunade-'baachan, but I think he managed to kill Itachi. That's been his goal since he was ten. So he's _the _Uchiha because he's the only one left."

"Oh. Well that's...darn."

"Yeah." Naruto was silent for a moment, lost in some memory. Kaori shuffled a foot and looked about the room. She'd met nearly everyone at the party, but she couldn't remember any names. Of all the things she wasn't good at, it had to be something that solidified her as a social outcast. She'd hoped things would be different in this foreign land, but she was meant to accept her status here too. Her eyes caught a head of pink hair. Sakura was standing next to a very tall man with black hair tied on his head like Iruka's. He looked like he was complaining about something, while Sakura was half-listening as she stared off into space. No, not into space, for as Kaori turned she could see Sasuke and his tag-alongs. Kaori couldn't read her expression, for it was well-guarded, but her eyes were filled with longing.

"Hey, Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto's mind returned to the present.

"Sakura. What's with her and Sasuke?"

"Hm, well that's a long story too, but even though she says she isn't into him anymore, I can tell she is. But she's not going to do anything about it now. Sasuke's too different, and as far as we know he'll kill her."

"Kill her!"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't really know why she admires from a distance. She used to be his biggest fan publicly. Now...I think she's afraid of him. She's seen what he's done. So few of us have."

Sakura spotted the pair watching her and waved them over.

"Kaori, it's nice to see you again. Have you met Shikamaru?"

"No." This time when Kaori held out her hand, the stare at it was that of exasperation. She crossed her arms and sighed. "I don't get it."

"Get what?" Naruto and Sakura said in unison.

"Iruka-sensei told me that when one meets new people, they occasionally shake hands. I've offered my hand twice so far because it's still so weird to me, and both times people have stared at it like it's a dead fish or something."

Naruto burst out laughing, and Shikamaru held up his hands hastily.

"I didn't want this to be troublesome!" he whined, offering his hand to Kaori. She shook it firmly. "Sorry about doing that, but I'm really irritated at things in ANBU right now."

"For once, I know exactly what someone is talking about," Kaori sighed. "ANBU was one of the first things Iruka-sensei taught me about."

"So you're really new to this place," Shikamaru commented. "I could never do something so troublesome as starting over in another country. Especially one without ninjas. I'm no good at anything besides jutsus. And Shougi."

"Well you're good at slacking off," Sakura suggested. "Maybe slacker is a career in other countries."

"In that case, I'd leave in a heartbeat."

The other three laughed, while Shikamaru just grinned hopelessly. While Iruka had Naruto blow out his candles and cut the real cake, Sakura continued staring at Sasuke, who was rescued by the arrival of Tsunade, Shizune, and a big, white-haired old man. Naruto went to greet the trio, while Izumo and Kotetsu made a mad scramble out the window. Apparently they _were _supposed to be filing something. As Tsunade and Shizune handed Naruto his gifts, the blond realized he never finished opening the ones he had. With a whoop he returned to the stage and tore apart more presents. Tsunade gave him a large selection of pocky, which could have lasted any normal being months. Naruto would no doubt finish it in a week.

Shizune gave him a set of kunais that were made to return to his hand at a command. Overly excited, Naruto threw them into the wall.

"Kaeru," he commanded, his palm outstretched. As the kunai tore themselves away from the wall, Iruka shrieked at the damage done to his classroom. Naruto hopped from foot to foot joyfully, for he would never run out of kunai with the pair on hand.

From Chouji he'd received a long blue scarf that matched his hitai-ate. Ino gave him a work out video, which Naruto felt was worthless as he spent all his time training anyway. Tenten gave him an arsenal of handy weapons. Shikamaru gave him money, claiming that buying a present was too troublesome.

Naruto fidgeted as he thanked Lee and Gai for their gifts, which were green silk sheets that matched their suits. He moved on to Shino's present, which was a small bottle of bug-repelling liquid to "keep away those Bikouchuus in your kitchen", at which only Kiba and Hinata laughed. Naruto huffed and tucked it safely in his scarf. He opened Hinata's gift next, which wasn't really wrapped as it was a lotus plant in a pot. Naruto attacked Hinata a tight hug, which made her blush and falter, but she maintained her balance. Neji gave him a book on meditation, which Naruto seriously considered skimming through later. After all, Neji was a genius, and this book was like a tip.

Asuma and Kurenai had given him a case of sake, which Naruto hid away before Iruka could commandeer it. Captain Yamato had been called away on a mission and had sent his regrets along with a wooden figurine of a nine-tailed fox. Unlike its model, the animal was crouching playfully with a cute face. Yamato had made it himself.

He couldn't help but be very excited at Sasuke's present, which was the complete set of the Princess Fuun movies on DVD. Naruto ignored the knowing smirk on Sasuke's face and gave him a huge thanks.

Kakashi watched in amusement as Naruto gaped at his present. The book was a bit on the lighter side compared to the "Icha Icha" series, and less tasteful in his opinion, but it should suit Naruto just fine. He'd heard that Naruto studied more often lately in hopes of becoming Hokage. Perhaps his mind needed a pleasant break from all that studying. After all, the book was titled "Oiroke no Jutsu".

Sakura's present was a handy med kit for Naruto to keep in his pack. Even though Naruto rarely needed serious medical attention, it would be there for him to help someone in case a medical nin wasn't available. Kakashi felt a twinge in his gut. Rin had given him a med pack when he had become a Jounin. And Obito had...

Kakashi closed his eye and sighed. What was most odd was that he never felt anything in common with Naruto; he felt Sasuke was much like himself. Yet here this simple gift had made him feel almost...understanding. And that was enough of that. He pulled out "Icha Icha Odoroki" and began mulling over those pages instead of his sudden fatherly feelings towards Naruto. He glanced up to see Naruto yelping with excitement as he discovered an orange winter jacket from Kiba. The hood, sleeves, and bottom were trimmed with white fur. In fact, it was a mirror of Kiba's own jacket of choice. Kakashi shook his head. It would look horrible with his Jounin jacket.

After opening an envelope from Iruka with a free trip to the hotsprings, Naruto sighed with pleasure. He'd never been excited about his birthday before, but because his friends were excited for him, he could deny the feeling. Plus he was the centre of attention. He saw Iruka smiling at him from the crowd and proceeded to pounce on and embarrass the older man. But his gratefulness was undeniable.

As the evening waned on, Naruto spent time with every person, mostly talking about himself, and as they filed out alone or in pairs, he noticed how empty the room felt. Jiraiya placed a large hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't want to give you this when there were so many people around," he said cheerfully, rubbing his nose. "It's not exactly legal for me to have it, much less you."

Naruto looked at the seal on the scroll. "Scroll of Wind?" he read.

"You are a Wind Element guy, so I thought this might come in handy. I don't need it anymore. I've got my hands full with...research," Jiraiya finished his sentence eyeing a woman approaching him. "Oh, she's not much to look at now, but I bet with the right clothes and make-up and hair style, she could inspire many stories for me!" Jiraiya chuckled maniacally. Naruto stared at him blankly, then turned to a tap on his shoulder.

"Huh!" Naruto screeched when he saw it was Kaori. She was startled at his reaction, but decided he'd just had too much sugar. Naruto's face sagged in annoyance.

"Ero-sennin..." he muttered.

"I'm a what?" Kaori said.

Naruto shook his head. "Ero-sennin, this is Kaori. I'm training her to be a ninja."

Jiraiya was quiet for a moment before bursting out in raucous laughter.

"Training? _Her_?" he hooted. "That's a good one Naruto!"

Naruto puffed his cheeks and Kaori crossed her arms. Jiraiya's reaction wasn't flattering to either of them.

"Ero-sennin, huh? That means you're Jiraiya."

"Oh, so you've heard of me?" Jiraiya wiped the tears from his eyes, quite pleased.

"Only that you're a horny old fart who can't get any so spends his time watching _other _people get some." Kaori's expression dared Jiraiya to challenge the truth in her statement.

Naruto's face turned beet red, partially because he was holding back a huge guffaw, also because she'd said this statement very loudly in a room that had only a few people in it...including Godaime Hokage.

Jiraiya's left eyebrow twitched as it always did when he was annoyed. Kaori was oblivious to the stares from the rest of the party, and Naruto was holding his breath for the sake of his life. Never a big fan of Jiraiya, Sasuke smirked, then let loose a short "ha". That set Naruto and the rest of the room off. Laughter at Jiraiya's expense was always hearty. Jiraiya looked like he was about to explode, hovering dangerously over the smaller Kaori. She stood defiantly, practically goading him into making a move. His eye twitched once, then he closed both and gave her a huge grin.

"Ah, I see Naruto's told you all about me, then." Jiraiya chuckled. "Tell me, did he say that exactly?"

"No," Kaori smiled back. "Those are my words, but more or less what Naruto told me."

"You have guts, miss. Just like him."

The only one in the room not at ease was Kakashi, who was offended by Kaori's remarks. He didn't normally react this way, but anything against his beloved "Icha Icha" series or its author made his blood boil. He snapped his book shut and decided that the party had lost all appeal. He stalked out of the room, observed only by Iruka, and then realized as he reached his house that he had forgotten to get a piece of cake.


	6. Insults and Irritations

Caranril: I'm still debating the rating of this fic. I used "M" to be safe, for there will be mature themes later in the adventure, but I don't know if anything of that sort is in Part I. When I'm done writing, perhaps I'll take another gander at it and see if I need to change the rating to "T". Let me know what you think, please.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 6: Insults and Irritations

"Now, I've described the basic techniques you need to learn," Iruka continued. "The deal is to learn them you must train. Lots and lots of training, right Naruto?"

"Hai, Sensei!" Naruto called from a branch where he was perched cat-like to watch the lesson. "And I can help!"

Kaori smirked in Naruto's direction. He gave her a toothy grin.

"We'll continue meeting in the classroom for more work to be done, but Naruto has volunteered to take care of the training. Hokage-sama has things for me to do while I'm not busy anyway."

"You just won't admit that you're getting old," Naruto huffed, hopping down from the tree and strutting towards them with his hands in his pockets.

"But I'm not!" Iruka protested. "Kakashi's older than I am and I don't hear you giving him a bad time about it!"

"Yeah, but Kakashi-sensei ages well. And his hair's naturally grey." Naruto's grin grew mischievous. Iruka looked shocked, then nervous.

"I'll, uh, let you take over, Naruto. I have somewhere, erm, I have to be." Iruka took off for the Academy. Naruto turned to Kaori and grinned.

"Going to check for more grey hairs, I bet," he said gleefully. Kaori snorted in agreement.

"So I've been practicing since our last training day, and I can't do that Henge no Jutsu. I just can't turn into Tsunade-sama."

Naruto nodded knowingly. "I couldn't replicate Sandaime Hokage to save my life. I _could_ do...Oiroke no Jutsu!" With that and a seal, Naruto turned into a naked young blond with outrageous curves and large blue eyes. Kaori rolled her eyes and yanked on the female Naruto's pigtail. He changed back into himself.

"Ow! What was that for?" he whined, rubbing his scalp.

"I won't get a nosebleed from that," Kaori said boredly. "I wanted to ask, would I be able to develop my own technique like you did?"

Naruto squinted his eyes. "You want to learn Oiroke no Jutsu? But you're already a girl!"

"Duh, idiot, I know that! Something else. Something that's a henge but with my own name for it."

"Ah, your own technique! What do you want to do?"

Kaori pondered a moment. "Well, I don't want to tell you, but anything you know about Henge no Jutsu would be great to learn."

"I'm here to train you, not teach. Iruka-sensei does that so ask him."

"But he doesn't know I'm already learning all this stuff with you. I think it might make him feel worthless. He already feels aged." Kaori snickered. "It's funny because he's really not that old but he still freaks out."

"Yup, yup, that's Iruka-sensei. So, shuriken training?"

"Shuriken training."

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"One bowl of miso ramen, coming right up!" Kaori was severely addicted to her job. The smells were intoxicating and she could eat loads of free ramen during breaks. She was a poor ninja-hopeful and took every bit of charity she could. That's the way she'd always lived.

"Enjoy, okyaku-san."

"Kaori-san, more noodles!" Teuchi ordered.

"Yokai, Teuchi-sama!" Kaori hummed a traditional sea shanty to herself as she rolled and cut the dough for more ramen noodles.

"Kaoooooori-chan!"

Kaori smiled, recognizing the obnoxious voice calling across the counter.

"Konbanwa, Naruto-kun," she greeted without looking up from her ramen noodles.

"Hm, I'll have a shoyu ramen tonight. Yes that sounds good."

"Kaori-san, you're order." Teuchi was kind enough to allow Kaori let serve Naruto a free bowl of ramen whenever she worked, but she had to make it herself. He smiled and tended to the noodles while she prepared Naruto's meal. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the noodles as finely as Kaori, and he'd been in the ramen business for years.

As Teuchi moved to the back of the shop, Kaori leaned in to talk with Naruto.

"He said I'm the best noodle maker he's ever met!" she said proudly. "I don't know how many he's met, but he seems to really mean it. I knew I was good at making things with my hands, but I never figured cooking would be something I could do."

"What sort of things do you make?"

"Not so much stuff anymore, but when I was little the only way to make money was to make and sell things in the market. I did better when hired under an adult, but they...never liked me much."

"Why's that?" Naruto's blue eyes were wide and curious. Kaori turned away, looking for an excuse to end the topic.

"Your, uh, ramen's done. Enjoy."

Naruto was so overjoyed to see the bowl in front of him that he forgot Kaori's discomfort. "Oh, itadakimasu!" He snatched a pair of chopsticks and began slurping away. Kaori smiled slightly, feeling better that the conversation had been avoided, but sad that she had to keep something from Naruto. As much alike as she felt to him, she didn't want him to start hating her like everyone else did back home.

Home. She'd come across the definition one day while studying. The book said home was the place where one lived, a place where something flourishes or from which it originated. Or to be at home was to be comfortable and at ease, ready to receive visitors. She'd also seen the phrase "home is where the heart is," and that had confused her a bit. How could someone's heart belong somewhere? Wouldn't it be whereever the person was at the time? She meant to ask Iruka about it, but felt like she'd appear an idiot again. He was a kind man and she didn't want to stress him out much more than she already did with her illiteracy. This was partially why she let Naruto help her train outside of the classroom.

"Hey Naruto? I'm going to train by myself tonight."

"Huh?" Naruto stopped slurping his meal. "What did I do?"

"It's not you. I just need to do this alone."

"Ah, working on your new technique?" Naruto's eyes sparkled. "I have to see it soon."

"When it's ready," she promised. "It won't give you a nosebleed, but," Kaori grinned devilishly as she headed back to her ramen noodles, "I hope you'll find it irresistible."

Naruto swallowed his bite, staring at Kaori's back. "Irrisistible?" _Yeah, if she turned into Sakura..._

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"Okay, when you said more work to do in the classroom, I thought you meant studying!" Kaori fumed. "Why the hell should I be tested on proper etiquette?"

Iruka sighed. "It's required of all the kunoichi to take a class on etiquette. Most of the girls learned it from their parents, but professional instruction is more fitting to prepare them."

"Already I've come to see that you have no etiquette decent for a woman," Suzume stated snottily. "This is a problem, for it means I must take the time to instruct you and then complete the test."

"Why the hell should I be tested on proper etiquette?" Kaori repeated, using Suzume's snotty tone.

"Kaori," Iruka said tiredly, "there may be times when espionage is required, or simple blending. It is imperative that a kunoichi understands the rules of society and is able to act out a part to avoid suspicion. It has always been a part of the Ninja Academy to include this training. Tsunade-sama also specifically requested that you be tested. It's for your own safety."

"Or image. Which could use a lot of work." Suzume pressed her glasses up her nose.

Kaori growled, crossing her arms and hunching over her desk. "All right. What do you want to know?" After a few minutes of seemingly harmless questions, Suzume stood suddenly and gathered her papers. Kaori had a feeling her answers had said a lot more than she thought.

"Iruka-sensei, I'll see you in the hall."

Iruka hurried after the older woman, who slid the door closed with a smart click. Muffled voices conversed, while Kaori desperately wished to be outside training with Naruto. Golden leaves were scattered everywhere, and while the days were still fair, the nights were chilly and damp. The sun's warmth wouldn't last much longer. And then she'd end up training in the cold. She wondered if it snowed in Konoha. It was certainly much warmer than back home.

Iruka stepped into the room and slid the door shut behind him. His face was downcast and he seemed stressed.

"Well?"

"Well." Iruka sat at his desk. "On top of everything else you must do to graduate, you now have to take classes with Suzume for two weeks."

"What!" Kaori stood suddenly, which knocked her knees on the small desk. "No no no no no, I have too much training to do! I-i-i study all day and train and then work at night and sometimes train even more I don't have to time to learn how to be a girl! I mean...well, you _know_..." She plopped back into her chair, defeated. "Why did I ever let Temujin talk me into this?" She rested her forehead on her crossed arms. There was silence except for the noisy clock on the wall. She felt rather than heard Iruka sit next to her.

"You're not second-guessing yourself, are you?"

"Urm."

"I've briefly touched on proper Shinobi conduct, but perhaps now is the time to give you emotion training as well."

"Emotion training?"

"A Shinobi must learn to control emotions and appear collected. Second-guessing oneself is a sign of undiscipline. I have a feeling you'll need meditation instructions on top of this etiquette class."

Kaori peeked from her arms. "Can't I just be stabbed in the eye?"

Iruka chuckled. "One, that's self mutilation and as your teacher I cannot allow it. Two, it isn't that painful."

"Oh really?" Kaori buried her head again. "Have you ever gone through the class?"

When no answer came, Kaori smirked into her arms. "That's what I thought."

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Naruto's eye twitched. "You want to do what?"

"I want to shove her glasses in her ear and use the shards to shave her head."

"Eh, that's not a very nice thing to say about a teacher. And she can't be that bad!"

"You haven't had a class with her, so you don't know what it's like. Gargh." Kaori plopped in the dirt, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Flower arrangement? How does _flower arrangement_ keep me blended and risk-free while on missions. Hell..."

"Sakura had to take the kunoichi class and I don't remember any problems," Naruto mused, throwing shuriken at a target.

"How old was she when she took the class? Seven? And that's how old Suzume-ama treats me. That and like a piece of lint." Kaori lay down, ignoring the dust swirls tickling her nose. "And when does it get so hot and _dry _in the middle of fall?"

Naruto shrugged. "Kakashi says we'll get a huge rainstorm to make up for it."

"Like he knows."

Naruto sighed in exasperation. "Okay, I'm tired of hearing you whine and complain. I'm gonna go home and take a nice cold shower and watch tv for the rest of the night. You're working?"

"Yeah."

"Don't expect me to stop by. I want slap you for being so whiny."

"Then why don't you?" Kaori sat up suddenly. "Come one. Let's fight."

Naruto's eyes grew big. "No, no, I couldn't do _that_!"

"Why? Because I'm a girl? Think of me as...as...Sasuke! I know you like fighting him!" Kaori's eyes gleamed. "Let's go. I want to fight."

Naruto sighed. "I'm out of your league, idiot."

"Idiot? Who are you calling idiot? Busaiku..." Kaori didn't finished her sentence as Naruto had a kunai held to her throat.

"I said I've had enough, Kaori." His tone was dead serious. Then he snorted. "I've had tons of people insulting my intelligence and maturity, but I've yet to have someone insult my looks."

"There's always a first," Kaori grinned evilly, hoping to spur him into fighting. Naruto pulled the kunai away and tucked it into his pack.

"Go home, Kaori," he said seriously. "Do your meditation thingy or whatever. And don't try to pick a fight with anyone here, especially a Jounin. Even Konohamaru could kick your ass."


	7. Downpours and Dates

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 7: Downpours and Dates

As quickly as the days passed, the weather changed from crisp sunny days to dark and threatening rain. For two days the skies had been gathering dark clouds, and as Naruto sniffed the air, he could sense the downpour would be in less than a day. Since puberty and his developments of Kyuubi's power, he'd become more attune to nature and his surroundings. He still didn't get the deal with a lot of people, but he could smell emotions. He had tried to explain that to Sakura once, who thought he was playing games. But even as he sniffed for the rain, he could tell Sakura was struggling inwardly. She looked calm as they leapt through the trees, her pink locks strewn back by the chilly wind. Naruto didn't have to sniff anything to known she was angry at Sasuke.

"Hey, Sakura. How about some ramen? My treat?" Naruto grinned nervously.

"Whatever." She changed direction to head for Ichiraku Ramen. The meal wouldn't make her talk, but Naruto always somehow put her in a better mood by the end. They didn't eat together often, but ever since the first time they ate just before Sasuke left for Otogakure, Sakura had been willing to eat a bowl occasionally with Naruto. Naruto had even ceased to think of them as "dates."

It was early afternoon and they had just finished a mission to help rebuild a clan's village destroyed by arson fire. Sasuke had been silent and broody as usual, but when Sakura asked for his help lifting several boards, he'd told her to make a kage bunshin and do it herself, knowing very well that Sakura couldn't do kage bunshin. She'd tried to argue back, but Sasuke had been cruel. Naruto hadn't witnessed it, but he heard the story from Kiba, who heard it from Akamaru. Which meant the account probably wasn't entirely accurate. But Sasuke had said something to Sakura that had pissed her off. Naruto understood he needed time before he could truly be Sasuke again, but lately he'd been more cranky. And that just irritated Naruto.

Sasuke and Kaori. Naruto knew people found him to be annoying, but at this time he was finding annoying-ness to be...annoying. He sighed inwardly and put on his cheerful attitude. Sakura needed Naruto to be himself.

As bowls of ramen were placed in front of them, Naruto tapped the side of Sakura's with his chopsticks.

"At least you're not always on a diet like Ino is," Naruto said happily. "Because then I wouldn't know how to treat you!"

Sakura allowed him a smile. "Thank you, Naruto. One of these days I promise to treat _you _to a bowl."

"Do the 'nice guy' pose." Naruto watched, hoping she'd humour him. Sakura smirked, then gave him a thumbs up and a wink.

"I promise."

Naruto watched her eat for a moment before digging in. The noodles were hot but oh-so-tasty. The warmth the soup put in his stomach made him very happy indeed. He often wondered if it was just his favourite food on the earth or if the fox demon itself had been partial to noodles. More likely partial to chakra noodles. Naruto nearly choked at the image of Kyuubi holding chopsticks with its tails and shoveling blue chakra noodles into its red chakra stomach. Naruto peeked at the demon's reaction. Only the eyes were visible through the gate, and they didn't look amused.

_You want to know what I'm partial to? Jinchuuriki..._

"Naruto?"

Naruto came back to the ramen shop, an expectant look on his face. Sakura looked mad.

"Why does Sasuke hate me?" Her hands were shaking, and Naruto realized she was struggling not to cry.

"I, uh-"

"I've tried not to be like I used to around him; I try to give him space. I still...I mean I can't...I've changed since he last new me, Naruto, but he just refuses to see that. If anything, he treats me worse than before. But even though he's cruel..." The tears fell. "I can't stop loving him."

Naruto gave her a look of pity. "Listen, Sakura. We've all changed since we last saw each other. No one really knows what made Sasuke change, and I still wonder sometimes what made him decide to leave in the first place. All I know is, things take time."

"But it's been nearly a year!" Sakura burst out, then quickly composed herself.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said quietly, staring at his empty bowl. "Things take time. When I was alone, I thought it would be for forever. Even after I found you guys, Team Kakashi, I was afraid you'd leave me alone too. It took time for me to trust my heart to others." Naruto turned and gave her a small smile. "Maybe you let Sasuke have your heart too easily."

Sakura started, shocked by his last words. She in turn stared at her own ramen bowl, still quite full.

"Kaori has problems trusting people too," Naruto said suddenly. He didn't know why he felt he should mention her, but he did. "She's my friend now, but she's still so distant. She's been alone all her life, longer than I have, and she's afraid. But she needs time." Naruto took Sakura's hand in his. "Gaara once told me that injuries of the heart take a long time to heal. Sasuke's been hurt, Kaori's been hurt, you and I have been hurt. But Gaara also said the ointment for a heart is love. Sakura...I love you. As my friend. Maybe what Sasuke needs is your love...as a friend."

Sakura's eyes grew wide, and the last of her tears trickled out. "Naruto..."

Feeling quite awkward at the entire situation, Naruto jumped back into a more comfortable attitude.

"Are you gonna eat the rest of that?"

Sakura shook her head and pushed it towards him. She stood purposefully.

"Thank you, Naruto. For everything. I need to go."

_Maybe what Sasuke needs is your love...as a friend_. Sakura never dreamed Naruto could have such deep thoughts. All over a bowl of ramen too. Perhaps not today, but she would show Sasuke that he couldn't mess with her anymore. She was going to treat him like she did Naruto, though maybe less like an idiot as Sasuke was a genius.

Sakura stopped. Standing outside her house was Kaori. Actually, it looked like she was snoozing.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, startling Kaori to wakefulness.

"Ah geez! Oh, um, Sakura-san. Konnichiwa. Um...I have a problem..."

Sakura waited.

"And you were the only one I could think of to help."

Sakura unlocked her door, still waiting. Kaori fidgeted madly.

"Would you like to come inside?" she asked politely.

Kaori nodded, looking around like she was expecting a follower. Sakura was alarmed but she kept her cool and shut the door calmly. She doubled the lock just in case. Even inside Kaori was nervous.

"What's wrong, Kaori-san?"

"How are you today, Sakura?" Kaori said dodgingly.

"Uh, not so great. Do you need something?"

Kaori twiddled her fingers. "Have you heard that Suzume-sensei is teaching me kunoichi basics?"

"Naruto mentioned something about it. Yes."

"Well, uh, for the final test, she wants to do a dinner setting to test me. And this includes...wearing a dress."

"And you don't have a dress," Sakura realized.

Kaori shook her head vehemently. "I've never owned a dress in my life, much less wore one. I didn't know who else I could come to for help."

"Hm, come to my room." Sakura led Kaori towards her closet, in which she shuffled around a bit. "You're a bit bigger than me, height and weight-wise. Uh, no offense."

"Why would I be offended?"

"It's just that most girls...nevermind. This is a little big for me and might fit you. Otherwise, that's all I have to offer." Sakura pulled out a sparkling pink dress. It would have come just above her knees. Kaori stared at it in disgust.

"It's sparkly," she snorted.

"Yes."

"And pink."

"Um, yes?"

"I can't do pink. _Maybe _sparkly, but _not pink_!"

"What's wrong with pink?"

Kaori eyed Sakura's hair. "Oh well nothing wrong with the colour, but on me...yeah."

"I think you'll look fine. Just try it on." Sakura threw the dress at her and left the bedroom and closed the door. She went to the bathroom to clean up from the mission, feeling quite irritated. Yet it was also funny. Even Naruto could be more feminine than that Kaori.

Sakura turned when she heard a growl of exasperation at the door. In the mirror she could see that the pink sparkly dress wouldn't work. Kaori's hips stretched the fabric and pulled the hem up to mid-thigh. She wasn't fat, but she was slender either. And her breasts were bulging through the neckline in a painful-looking manner.

"How did you even get that on?" Sakura asked.

"I can't breath," Kaori whined. "I'm not wearing this."

"I agree." When Kaori had retired to the bedroom, Sakura allowed herself a smile. This could actually be fun. She had a plan that could possibly work, but only if Kaori was willing to do it.

"You don't seem too enthused," Sakura commented. "Do you_ have_ to dress up?"

Kaori grinned sneakily. "Suzume-sensei told me to, but the only reason I'm willing to do it is because Iruka is."

"Huh? Iruka-sensei's dressing up?" Sakura tried to picture him out of his Chuunin uniform, but no such image would form. "This makes it all more interesting. I want to see."

Kaori sighed. "That's another reason why I came to you; I knew Naruto would do anything to see Iruka-sensei and I all dolled up. It's too troublesome."

Sakura smiled. "I have a plan, Kaori, and now things'll work out great."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kaori snuck into a formal wear store while Sakura headed towards Ino's house. She would meet Sakura the next afternoon for make-up. Which would be loathsome, but dressing up meant the whole package. Including shoes. Kaori groaned inwardly at the idea of tottering on heels. She just kept imagining Iruka dressed up and kept going.

She was completely out of place in the store, so when a young woman came to greet her, she didn't even notice who it was until she said something.

"Oh, you're Naruto-kun's...friend?" she said quietly.

"Hello, uh..." _Crap_.

"Hinata. I don't blame you for forgetting."

"Ah, no that's not it. I'm horrible at everyone's names. I don't even remember Naruto's friend's name. The real moody guy?"

"Sasuke?"

"I guess."

"May I help you with something Kaori-san?"

Kaori blushed, but she managed to spill her story to the shy girl. Hinata seemed very confident in what she was doing, for she immediately led Kaori to the most beautiful dress she'd ever seen. It was a dark blue with a sheer cloth cover that looked like very finely-made webbing. The dress was strapless, but the mannequin had a scarf that matched the webbing around its neck.

"It's sort of an odd dress, but I think it would look wonderful on you. It would make your eyes look more blue than grey. The price..." Hinata held it out to her.

Kaori's jaw dropped and her eyes popped. Ouch. "Um, here's the deal that Sakura and I worked out. We don't know how much power you'd have over this sort of thing, but if I promise to keep it in mint condition and return it as such, could I borrow it for one night? The payment would be...heh, we'd arrange a date with Naruto for you."

Hinata gasped and flushed a deep red. "I-i-i don't know..."

"Ah, it was worth a shot," Kaori sighed, touching the coverlet. It felt wonderful in her calloused hands. Even if she had been able to seal a bargain, could she really keep her word and return a fancy dress in mint condition?

"It's a deal," Hinata said firmly.

Kaori looked at her in surprise. "Really?"

Hinata tapped her forefingers together. "You caught me by surprise. I've pictured Naruto asking me out so many times, I never figured someone would try to set us up."

"Sakura figured it would mean a lot to you. Enough to let me wear the dress tomorrow evening. The date would be set up for during that time."

"Does Naruto-kun know?" Hinata asked, her voice dangerously quiet.

Kaori grinned. "Nope, and that's a good thing. You'll see." And with that Kaori unraveled the plans she and Sakura had already put into action.


	8. Friends and Failure

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 8: Friends and Failure

Sakura stood in front of Ichiraku Ramen shop, twirling her hair between her fingers. Naruto strutted down the street, his hands behind his head. She hoped to goodness that Ino was ready, because she had no idea how long she'd be able to lie to Naruto's face when he was dressed the way was. She'd told him to meet her at Ichiraku, and she'd said to dress up. Now she had to admit he spruced up quite nicely. He wore short black pants that allowed the tops of his sandals to peek out. He wore an orange, button-up shirt that matched his new coat perfectly. His forehead protector was absent, allowing his long blond hair to pool in his eyes. Sakura could tell he had tried to comb it nicely, but the wind and natural anti-gravitation of the locks kept it messy as ever. As he stood next to her, he gave her a scrutinizing look.

"Okay, Sakura-chan. I figured that you wanted me to dress up for a reason, but _you _aren't dressed up!" Naruto accused. Sakura flushed slightly.

"Ah, well, Naruto, you know I just..." Sakura stopped when she heard a "wuuuuu" as Ino's technique seized control of Naruto's body.

Naruto chuckled. "Shintenshin no Jutsu: a success!" He stuck his tongue out at Sakura. "You _so _owe me, Sakura!"

"Right. Now you know what to do?"

"Of course. Just leave it to me." Before leaving, Naruto gave Sakura a saucy look over his shoulder. "If I can make any guy like me, I sure could make any girl like me!"

Sakura sighed. "Ino, you're just taking Naruto to the restaurant. You're not trying to seduce Hinata while in his body!"

"Whatever. Later, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura watched Naruto depart, then crossed the street, where Kaori emerged from the bushes with an unconscious Ino in her arms.

"She's so skinny I can lift her easily," Kaori scoffed. "Does the girl ever eat?"

"Rarely," Sakura smiled. She blinked and wiped the eye a raindrop had just invaded. "We'll take her to my house until she's done. It would be bad to leave her in the bushes when it rained."

Kaori nodded and followed Sakura back to her house, which Hinata had departed from twenty minutes early, all spruced up and blushing like a bride. Kaori was truly glad to be doing something for the shy young woman. When Ino's body had been settled on the couch, Sakura set about sprucing up Kaori. She'd showered at her house and threw her hair up in a fresh bandana, ready for whatever tweaking Sakura was prepared to do on it. Kaori took a deep breath and closed her eyes obediently as Sakura pulled out a stick of eyeliner to trace her eyes with.

A soft moan caught their attention. Ino sat up triumphantly.

"Mission get-Naruto-and-Hinata-on-a-date completed," she said proudly. "They're both at Panda no Niwa. It's up to Hinata now." Her eyes widened as she saw Sakura's project on Kaori's face. "Ooh, let me help!" She yanked Kaori's bandana off and untangled her hair, gasping in awe.

"My, my, you have _lovely _hair! Good thing I'm an expert at hair-care, right Sakura?"

"Yeah I guess." Sakura smiled at Ino.

"How much time do we have?"

"Half an hour."

Ino's eyes bugged out. "Huh? That's not nearly enough time to do _my _hair decently. My, my, Sakura-chan. You're cutting it close. Well, no sense wasting time talking. Hand me the brush."

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Naruto blinked his eyes. A moment ago he'd been talking to Sakura, now he was sitting at a table in a nice restaurant. Alone. He scratched his head, definitely confused. He looked about, noticing that few people were eating. No waiters were lurking about either. He turned and noticed a young woman alone at a table nearby.

"Excuse me, okusan. Did you see me come in here?"

Her head remained bowed, but she shook her head. "N-no. I'm sorry."

"Ah, damn it." Naruto was really confused. He studied the young woman, finding her to be familiar. "Uh, do I know you?"

She raised her eyes to meet his. Naruto fell out of his chair.

"Eh? Hinata?" He scrambled back up to get a better look at the blushing girl. "Wow! I didn't recognize you, you look so beautiful!"

Hinata froze at his comment, trying very hard to be at ease but finding it extremely difficult.

"N-naruto-kun..."

"Why are you here all by yourself?" Naruto sat in the chair opposite her.

"I was told someone would meet me. And that the meal was already paid for."

"Hm..." Naruto looked around the restaurant. "Doesn't look like they showed up."

"Um, Naruto-kun? Would you like to join me? You can order whatever you like."

Free food. Naruto perked right up. "Okay!" He thought a moment. "Are you sure it's okay, Hinata? Maybe you want to eat alone."

"N-no. I'd much rather eat with you." Hinata blushed a deep red.

"Okay!" he said again. He gave her a warm grin, which Hinata returned, immense relief washing over her features. A waiter arrived with a bottle and poured a deep red liquid into their glasses. Naruto raised his towards Hinata.

"What are we toasting to, Naruto-kun?"

"Hm, I was just thinking...how about...us!"

"Us?" Hinata blinked.

"For finally going on that date that I've been meaning to ask you out on," Naruto concluded, gulping his drink. Hinata shook slightly, startled by his answer. Naruto choked as he gasped in his drink.

"It's real wine!" he sputtered.

"Yes, okyaku-san," stated the waiter. "It was paid for by someone over the age of twenty, so it matters not to me who drinks it. As long as you drink it responsibly. I trust Hinata-sama with that."

Hinata blushed under the waiter's praise, who promised to return for their orders in a few minutes. Naruto overcame his initial shock and sipped the wine instead. It tasted much better that way. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair.

"There's nothing better than eating a good meal with a good friend," he mused. Hinata smiled, unable to agree more.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

The downpour had started as soon as Kaori had put her dress on. Fortunately Sakura had a long hooded cloak to lend to her, so Kaori wouldn't be soaked. She couldn't decide if the rain was a blessing or a curse: on one hand, the dress might be ruined, while on the other no one would be out and catching a glimpse of her in her embarrassing attire. She thought Sakura, Ino, and Hinata had done a wonderful job, but not on her. If she was someone else, she'd look fine. But she was Kaori. A sailor. Hardly a woman. And right now she was more feminine than even typical females were. She tottered on heels, but only because Sakura pointed out that Suzume would notice if she was wearing them or not. Damn.

Even as she reached the entrance to the Academy, the rain beat down even harder. Her shoes were uncomfortably wet, but she clicked hurriedly as she dashed down the halls, nearly ten minutes late for the test. She rounded the corner for the final stretch when her nose collided with a very hard chest. She fell on her rear, holding her nose and begging her eyes not to leak tears all over her face. She glared up at a tall figure wearing a black cloak. Her eyes went wide, realizing it was Naruto's friend, Uchiha something-or-other. She yanked her hood back on and dashed passed the man's side, praying he didn't recognize her. The last thing she needed was more rumors going around about her. She entered the classroom, slammed the door shut, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Sasuke blinked slowly, aware a woman in a dark blue dress and a rain-soaked cloak had just ran smack into his chest and fallen down. He'd never seen her before, and was almost unsure that it happened, for the next moment she had been gone. Only the slamming of a door alerted him to the fact that she wasn't just some illusion. Why there had been a fancily-dressed woman in the Ninja Academy was beyond him, and simply shook his head and continued out of the building into the rain.

Kaori found her relief to be short-lived. Suzume was standing before her, looking quite livid.

"You're ten minutes late, Kaori, and that will be considered into your final score," she harumphed.

"Aye, Sensei," Kaori said sweetly. God, was she in for a rough evening. But when Suzume moved away from the door, Kaori had second thoughts about the imminent torture. A small table with candles and dishware was prepared for two people. And standing next to the set-up was the most handsome man Kaori had ever seen. He approached her and offered to take her dripping cloak, which she gave up numbly. He wore basic black, but it was attire completely different from what he normally wore, and therefore made it exotic. His forehead was sans the protector, revealing a tiny curl of hair planted in the middle. His dark brown hair was loosed from its traditional ponytail, hanging leisurely about the Chuunin's face, which was blushing. Kaori felt it was reflecting her own blush of self-consciousness. Iruka hung her cloak near the door and turned towards Kaori, oddly unsure of himself.

"Kaori, you look...very nice," he said neutrally. This only deepened Kaori's blush. As he held out his arm to lead her to her seat, Kaori took it sheepishly. Who knew underneath that neurotic teacher exterior was this sexy epitome of a man?

"Iruka-sensei, why do you have to be so hot?" Kaori muttered. Iruka stiffened at this, and his blush grew mightily. His unease set Kaori's nervousness back somewhat. She wasn't the only one uncomfortable that evening.

The events seemed to proceed smoothly, at least in Kaori's opinion, but she noticed Suzume's continuous scribbling in her annoying notebook, which never held good things about Kaori in it. The food wasn't really edible, as it was just replications, but it still tested her utensil use and table manners. Kaori choked on the "wine" as she tasted cranberry juice instead. She hated cranberries. Then Suzume told them it was time to dance. And that's when Kaori felt the evening come crashing down. Literally.

Iruka offered his hand, and Kaori managed to take it gracefully. But upon stepping from her chair, she stepped off-centre of the heel and fell forward. She gripped at nothing, just snagging the tablecloth and pulling all the contents on the table down on her. The candles lit the cloth on fire as well as the spidery mesh of her dress. Yelping loudly, Kaori kicked away the burning cloth and patted at the smoldering material on her dress. Suzume shrieked and shook her papers off her lap, which had caught on fire when Kaori had kicked the table cloth away. She was sitting on Iruka's desk, which in turn became lit with flaming papers. Kaori stood and grabbed the bottle of cranberry juice and doused the fire with it. Instead, the flames roared to life happily. Kaori looked at the label on the bottle, which read "Cranberry wine". Her first thought was "yuck", her second thought was "oops".

Iruka yelled something incoherent, then rushed to the window and threw it open. A cold breeze whipped in and played with the fire, taunting the flames to grow higher. He formed several seals, then spread his hands towards the fire.

"Suiton: Hisenrei no Jutsu!" Iruka called, sending small waves of water upon the fire. He held his hands out and kept the water flowing until every last ember was completely doused. Those including the ones on Kaori's dress and on Suzume's papers. Both women were soaked, and as Iruka lowered his arms, panting slightly at his effort, the sprinkler system came on. Everything was already soaked, but it still startled them all. Iruka sighed and rubbed his temples. Damn sprinkler system. He walked forward and examined the scene. His desk was in ruins, as well as the papers and tools that inhabited it. Suzume was so furious her face was a bright red and her mouth moved noiselessly. Kaori was completely horrified, her face as white as the table cloth had once been. Iruka stepped closer, intent on helping her off the floor, but she gasped and crawled away. She struggled with her wet dress to her feet, which were no longer housed by her shoes. With a small grunt she tore through the door and ran for her life.

Kaori felt like throwing up. She couldn't think of how that incident could have gotten worse. Maybe if someone had died. Kaori bit her lip through at that thought. It was a horrible thought, but she wouldn't put it past her luck for something like that to happen. She let the blood from her lip run down her chin, unaware of the trickle as the rain pounded down on her. She ran aimlessly, hoping to get as far away from that disaster of a test as she could. There was no way Godaime would let her be a ninja now. She couldn't even fail a test properly.

The mud suctioned her bare feet to the ground, and her dress and hair weighed heavily upon her. She hadn't even noticed when Ino's crown had fallen out and set her mane free. Gods, Ino and Sakura and Hinata had gone through so much trouble for her, and now she couldn't even return the dress as she apologized for screwing up. She was a failure as a woman and as a Shinobi, and now she was furious for letting Temujin talk her into being something other than a sailor. It would be a new experience, he'd said. You're good at lots of things, how do you know you won't be good at this? Fuck you, Temujin.

"Fuck you!" she screamed, punching a large tree. The pain in her fists only enraged her more, so she plunged her other fist into the bark. It hurt like hell, but the dripping blood seeped out her pain. She punched again, and again, making her knuckles raw as she shucked away skin. Sap oozed from the tree's wound, mixing with her own in an incredible stinging sensation.

"You know, you'd do more damage if you focused Chakra into your fists," came a deep voice.

Kaori cried out and turned to face the intruder. He had a black hood over his hair, but he couldn't hid his smirking expression.

"What's your name again?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Fuck you, Uchiha." With that, Kaori launched herself at Sasuke. He dodged with a minimum amount of movement and was behind her easily. She tried again, only this time he hit her back with the side of his hand. Kaori grunted, nearly falling from the force.

"I can easily tell who your training instructor is. No deftness to your movements at all. Just obvious and pitiful."

Kaori roared and leapt at his neck, clawing hopefully at the tender flesh. Sasuke snatched her own neck with one hand and lifted her away from him. Kaori gurgled, holding his wrist tightly. Her feet wouldn't touch the ground.

"You can't even get out of a situation like this? You're a pathetic ninja. I don't know your story, but you should have stayed where you were." Sasuke tightened his grip on her neck. Kaori didn't know if he intended to kill her or not, but she wasn't going to wait til the last second to find out. She forced her head down enough to look at Sasuke, then summoned a load of spit and sent it into his face. As his free hand went to wipe it away in disgust, she brought her right foot forward as hard as she could. Right into his groin. She was released immediately, and Sasuke collapsed as she did. Kaori held her aching throat, desperate for air. Sasuke didn't seem to be breathing.

His head shakily lifted to reveal angry red eyes. "You bitch!" he managed to gasp. Kaori wobbled to her knees, knowing she should be afraid of those eyes. She forced her weak legs forward and stumbled from the clearing. When she managed a steady pace, she glanced back to see if he was following. She doubted he could, for she'd kicked him hard enough to make him sore for days, but that didn't make her any less paranoid.

"Kami-sama, where do I go?" she wondered aloud. If Iruka was going to come after her, he would wait at her apartment. She needed to get out of the rain. Kaori found herself heading for Naruto's apartment. If Iruka came looking there, Naruto could always keep him out. She was afraid of Iruka.

Kaori left a muddy, wet trail through the building up to Naruto's door. She knocked, then pounded, then sank to the floor with a sigh as she realized he was probably still on his date with Hinata. Obviously _his _meal went well.

Curling herself into a ball to keep warm as she waited, Kaori felt a myriad of emotions. Her last fleeting though as she nodded off was what could she have possibly gotten herself into.


	9. Baths and Babbling

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 9: Baths and Babbling

Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.

"All right!" Kaori sat up quickly and swatted at whoever was jabbing her forehead. That was a regrettable decision, for her body cried out with aches from sleeping on the floor. Naruto stood over her, eyes slitted at her state.

"What happened to you?"

Kaori stood slowly, painfully aware that along with the aches from the floor, she had aches from being soaked and cold. Her knuckles were cracked and caked with dried blood. She was still damp and her hair was a huge mess. She rubbed the gunked make-up from her eyes.

"If it wasn't for your clothes, I'd say you were in a fight last night." Naruto stepped beside her and opened the door. He grabbed her arm and shoved her inside. Kaori was still dazed, standing in Naruto's apartment, unable to comprehend what was happening. Naruto sighed and steered her towards the bathroom and began drawing a bath. He disappeared a moment, then returned with a set of white pajamas.

"Take a long, hot bath," he ordered as he poured soap into the steaming water. It began foaming nicely. "Then we'll talk about why you are acting like a zombie and why you were on my doorstep this morning." Naruto closed his door on his way out, and then there was silence. Kaori slowly undressed, then sank into the tub. It took several minutes before she could move otherwise, but eventually she was able to wake up and clean. She drained the tub and started changing into the pajamas when she heard a knock. A door opened.

"Sakura-chan!"

"We have a mission today. You didn't show, but you're supposed to go with me. I stopped by Sasuke's place because he's supposed to go too, but he's ill."

Kaori pressed her ear to the door.

"Ill? Yeah, right. Why doesn't he have you or Tsunade fix him up?"

"He says we can't help him and he just needs rest. He claims it was too much stress."

Stress. Yeah right. But Kaori couldn't help but feel guilty.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Gotta take care of something first." Naruto shut the door, at which point Kaori opened the bathroom door.

"Oh! Kaori. I've got a mission, but I want to take care of you first." Naruto gestured for her to sit on his sofa, which Kaori sank into gingerly. "You look better. Need anything to eat or drink?"

Kaori shook her head. "I'm okay," she said hoarsely.

"So, what happened last night?"

Kaori started with dressing up for the test, having the test, ruining the test, and running away from the Academy. She left out the part with Sasuke, still feeling oddly guilty about hurting him the way she did. It was probably really embarrassing for him.

"Eh, but wouldn't it have been smarter just to go home and get cleaned and warmed up?" Naruto's eyes were slits as he reprimanded her foolishness.

"Yeah, I know, but last night I wasn't thinking too clearly." Kaori looked at the wounds on her hands. "Where were you anyway?"

"Oh, I was on a date with Hinata!" Naruto said proudly. Kaori raised a brow. Naruto saw her reaction and raised his hands. "Oh, no, we didn't _do _anything! We went to her house to watch a movie and ended up falling asleep. Neji got up at six in the morning to work out and found us. He suggested I get home before her father found out I fell asleep over there." Naruto shrugged his shoulders in embarrassment. "I don't like Hiashi-sama very much."

"I'm glad you guys had a good time. I really tried to. I'm just a screw up." Kaori put her head in her hands and sighed. Naruto watched her with pity, wishing he could stay and cheer her up.

"Look, Kaori. You can stay here today if you want. Iruka-sensei'll probably have someone watching your apartment. I don't know how long this mission'll take, but really, it's okay for you to stay."

"Thanks Naruto." Kaori gave him a tentative hug. She really did ache all over. "I probably won't be here when you get back. Working and all."

"Then I'll stop by. Later." And he was gone.

Kaori lay down on Naruto's sofa, which wasn't all that comfortable. She had this intense nagging guilt about Sasuke being "ill" at home and unable to go on missions. What if she'd done some permanent damage? She only wanted to be cruel when she meant it.

"Damn it." Kaori sat up, unable to sit with that guilt in the bottom of her stomach. She didn't have any clothes, and she couldn't go back to her apartment. She'd settle for whatever Naruto had. Which was mostly repeats of his current style of clothing. She found a black pair of pants identical to the ones that lay crumpled on the floor. She used some wire to hold them up on her waist. She found a faded orange and black jacket that looked too small for Naruto. She also found a pair of sandals that were in pretty good shape and fit her well. He must have outgrown that pair too quickly to damage them much. He didn't have any bandana-like objects to put over her hair nor any hair-holding objects to keep it out of the way. The guy didn't even have a pencil in his apartment. So she settled with braiding her wet hair and tying the end with a piece of wire. She felt much better than the night before.

The dress hang limply on the back of a chair. Kaori felt another stab of guilt, this time for breaking her promise of bringing the dress back in mint condition. She really was a failure. Not all-around...just in Konoha.

She made sure Naruto's door was locked, for she figured if her plan didn't work, she could resolve to go home. No, not home. Just where she lived. She made one or two friends here, but she didn't belong. She probably never would after last night. There was another cringe at that memory.

Odd looks were shot at her as she asked around for Sasuke's place, mostly for the familiar clothing she wore. That was going to spread even more rumors. Yup, and she had to get over it. She was finally given specific directions to his apartment, which was on the top floor of one of the nicest places in Konoha. Apparently he couldn't bear to stay where his family was murdered, but he wouldn't settle for anything less than the best either.

Kaori stood outside his door, debating whether or not she really wanted to apologize. She thought of his silly fan girls and what they might do to her when they found out the Uchiha could no longer father children. Stabbing guilt. Drat. She knocked.

There was a moment, then, "Who is it?"

"Um, Akumako Kaori."

There was more silence, then a click as the door unlocked and opened. Sasuke's eye peered through the crack.

"What...do...you...want?"

"I, uh, wanted to apologize for hurting you last night," Kaori said, trying not to hurry and sound insincere. "I wouldn't normally attack a guy in that manner, and would only do so as a last resort. I realize this is no excuse, but I wasn't entirely myself last night after...failing a test. I heard you were ill and thought...well, I really am sorry."

Sasuke stared at her unblinkingly.

"I know I'm not like Godaime or Sakura-san, but I know some things about helping people out. Please, even if you don't forgive me, can you allow me to help you until you're better? You really should have someone to take care of you."

"Why should I trust you?"

Kaori looked down, then met his black eyes evenly. "Because Naruto does."

Sasuke slowly closed his door. There was a sliding noise, then he opened the door all the way. He silently limped back to his spot on the couch. Kaori tentatively entered, closing the door quietly behind her. The curtains were drawn, causing fleeting shadows to dance in the far-off corners of the large apartment. Kaori stared at the biggest television she'd ever seen, displaying a news channel on mute. Sasuke sat on his very comfortable-looking couch, all the while looking very uncomfortable. He held a melted ice pack over his groin.

"Do you have another one of those?" Kaori asked. Sasuke closed one eye and gave her a look. "Tch, I meant an ice pack." Sasuke nodded and pointed to his kitchen.

Kaori was quite impressed. There was a bar lined with stools, and through the door frame she could see a wonderfully huge kitchen. If Ichiraku had a place like this...Even the decor followed a rich pattern of blues and silver and black. And the place was immaculate. No dirty dishes were to be found. Of course, Sasuke probably hadn't made himself a meal since yesterday. She took a fresh ice pack out of the fridge and grabbed the towel strung through the handle. She handed the wrapped pack to Sasuke and took the old one from him. He made to remove the towel but she stopped his hand.

"Your sweatpants aren't thick enough to protect you right," Kaori explained. "You wouldn't want to freeze it off, would you?" Sasuke gave her a glare but obeyed anyway. Kaori returned to the kitchen, then leaned over the bar.

"Are you hungry? I can make you something. Actually, all I can make is ramen. Or I could learn something else, but that would probably take too long."

"I don't have any ramen."

"Fine. I'll look around." Kaori noticed a large bowl with several varieties of fruit. If she knew how to do anything, it was cut things up. She prepared a salad and took two bowls back into the living room. Sasuke ignored her offered bowl, so she set it on the end stool. She plopped onto the couch next to him, happily munching her fruit. After a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence, Kaori felt herself snap.

"Okay. I came to your door, practically on my knees asking for forgiveness, offering my services to you, and now you haven't said one word. Not even something snotty."

"Why should I feel the need to talk to you?" Sasuke sneered.

_You deserved to be kicked in the balls._ Instead of that Kaori said, "Naruto and Sakura are worried about you. They think you're all weird or something. Maybe you just need someone to talk to?"

"_If_ I was to talk to anyone, why would it be you?"

"Fine. I'll talk. I'll talk and talk and tell you my whole life so that you'll be bored enough to talk about yourself. Or something else. I did offer to help."

Sasuke continued to stare at the television. Then, "What are you doing here? In Konoha?"

Kaori felt her irritation fade. She recalled the night before with much humility. "Honestly, I don't know. I thought, I mean Temujin thought, I mean..." Kaori sighed. "You have to understand, where I'm from people like me...because I can do the things you guys can do, with Chakra, I'm considered...a freak. Most of the time others with gifts hide them so they won't be persecuted like me. I'm like the most well-known freak in the country. And that's just because of her." Kaori set her bowl on the coffee table and crossed her legs, staring at the light the tv cast on the floor.

"Who?" Sasuke picked up his bowl of fruit salad and began to eat.

"My mother," Kaori said, unable to hide the irony in her voice. "From what the old hags tell, she showed up one stormy night, bursting with a child, and died even as it was born. She was a foreigner with no wedding band. I don't know why they...maybe it's because they thought I killed her, or maybe something strange happened at the time...but they named me Akumako. I don't know how they allowed me to survive, because my earliest memory was living underneath a stairwell. When I was six I named myself Kaori to keep from going insane. What kid wants to be called 'demon child'?"

"No one is aware that entire countries are based on the Chakra power of its people?" Sasuke felt his question made no sense, but neither did Kaori's story. People who considered ninjas freaks?

"Where I'm from, all that ever happens is war. I killed a man when I was seven. I had holed up inside a shed, and when a sect overran the village, I protected what little I had. I didn't mean to kill him. He just came at me, and I held my hands out and...killed him with this." Kaori held up her palm, from which protruded a blue blade of Chakra. "Too bad many other people saw what I did and that branded me a freak forever." Kaori allowed an odd smile, which Sasuke found rather creepy. She stared wide-eyed at nothing.

"I never cried. Not once. They said I didn't cry as an infant either. I don't think I can cry even if I wanted to. I saw lots of children and adults cry. I thought because I never did, I was strong. They were mere puppets of flesh. I was...special." Kaori blinked, as if waking from a daydream. "Then I found out I was special enough to go to a foreign country and train with others who are special. But now that I'm here, I can see...I'm nothing compared to the people here. Naruto, Sakura, Neji...you." Kaori revealed her former illiteracy and Iruka's kindness, Naruto's plans for her training, and Suzume's test from hell. Sasuke tried to keep from smiling at the last tale, but it ended up as a smirk despite his best efforts.

"Kakashi said that to you?"

"Yes, and it's not funny. That's where all my doubt started. No, maybe it was when we met Lee and Neji. Or maybe when Temujin told me we were going to Konohagakure. Damn it, I don't know."

"Do you think we didn't work hard to be what we are?" Sasuke painfully shifted himself so he could face Kaori more comfortably. "I had to grow up in my brother's shadow. Everything he did was expected of me. 'Itachi graduated the Academy at age seven, why don't you?' 'Itachi bested Chuunins to become an ANBU captain at age thirteen, why don't you?'" Sasuke gritted his teeth and turned away. "They wanted me to be just like him...and then he killed them all." Sasuke closed his eyes and seemed to debate something within. "I still have nightmares."

Kaori felt ill. She'd though Sasuke was just a bastard, but he seemed to have good reason to be a jerk. And she'd prattled on like her past was such a bad thing. She'd never lost anything. Except for one thing...

Sasuke continued, almost painfully, telling of his quest to become stronger so that he might kill Itachi. He tried to kill Naruto, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He served under Orochimaru for years, gaining power until he had killed Itachi. Orochimaru tried to kill him, but Sasuke beat him to a pulp and left him to die. And he had somehow wandered back to Konoha, where ANBU members caught him and brought him before Tsunade.

"I'd never met the lady until that moment, and she's the scariest woman I've ever encountered," Sasuke admitted. He looked at Kaori, who was staring at him wide-eyed, gripping a pillow tightly to her chest.

"Heh, it's not that great of a story."

Kaori shook her head. "I just...I didn't know...I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You had nothing to do with it." Sasuke tried to heave himself up. Kaori gripped his arm and helped haul him to a standing position.

"Yeah, but I wondered about a kunai up your ass. I didn't realize it was in your heart."

Sasuke paused a moment to stare down at Kaori, who looked about questioningly.

"What are we doing?"

"Got to piss." Sasuke wobbled to the bathroom and shut the door. Kaori flopped on the couch and stared at the ceiling. God, she was an idiot. She'd have to remember to keep her fat mouth shut. As Sasuke crept back toward the couch, Kaori winced when he did.

"I really am sorry Sasuke."

"I wasn't going to kill you."

"Yeah, but, I didn't know that." Kaori felt herself slowing down, after-effects of lack of rest the night before. Sasuke was talking about something, and she knew it would be a good idea to listen, but the couch was warm and soft and the voice so deep and hypnotizing...

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sasuke stopped mid-sentence when Kaori let out a little snort. Her head was tilted back at a seemingly uncomfortable angle as she slept soundly. He felt a flash of irritation, for he'd been recounting his more notable battles, but then smiled as he remembered her amusing story of the flaming kunoichi exam. Sleeping on the floor outside Naruto's apartment could not have been comfortable. Sasuke wondered a moment, for Kaori had failed to mention why Naruto hadn't been home. He stifled a yelp and the wonder flew away as Kaori fell over and dropped her head right on his leg. It didn't cause more than a throb to his crotch, but it was a close call all the same.

As she smacked her lips and continued snoring quietly, Sasuke felt his hand drawn to her hair. He absent-mindedly stroked the white locks, finding his own lids heavy from lack of sleep. His aching groin hadn't allowed him much rest. But now it was feeling much better...

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Her dreams were filled with muddled memories that had resurfaced suddenly. Other memories were mixed in that didn't seem to be her own. As Kaori hovered between sleep and wakefulness, the image of a strong, tan sailor with blond curls entered her thoughts. He was very irritated with her, yet his eyes betrayed his amusement. _Kaizoku..._he said with warning.

"Mm, Kaizoku," Kaori muttered, rolling over only to connect her cheek with a hip bone. A grunt of discomfort made her eyes snap open. She was staring at a black void of fabric. She looked up and saw Sasuke blinking sleepily. Kaori shot up.

"Ah, whoops, so sorry there. Didn't mean to...are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sasuke yawned. "I didn't have the heart to wake you."

Kaori yelped as the red numbers of the clock radio on the table caught her eye. "Aiyaaaa! I've gotta be at work in ten minutes. You _should _have woken me up!"

"Well I didn't know," he said simply. Then after a moment as Kaori quickly cleaned up their dishes, "I thought you were going to be of service all day."

"Erm, I forgot that I had to work. You can allow me that much! Besides, I get off at eleven and I'll bring you some ramen. How's that?" Kaori gave him a goofy grin. Sasuke gave her a stern look, which only made Kaori laugh.

"Heh. That's like the look Iruka gives me when..." Kaori paused. "Oh shit. I'm gonna have to go back to school tomorrow. I skipped today because I couldn't...daaaaamn it!" Kaori scratched her head and flew out the door. Sasuke blinked, taken aback by her sudden departure. He felt she took way too much after Naruto. Maybe that was why he liked her.

"Or maybe it's because she'd love to kick your ass if she could," Sasuke muttered to himself as he headed for the shower. He was still achy, but after being coming home in intense pain and soaking clothes, he wasn't in any shape to entertain anyone, even Kaori. Showers could cure just about anything. Except hunger, which his stomach prodded now that it didn't reel every time he moved. _Ramen at eleven,_ he promised, patting his belly as he let the hot shower peel away the grime from the night before.


	10. Visitors and Vexations

Caranril: My best bud is coming back home for a week, so I doubt I'll get around to posting a new chappie on the weekend. This is me thinking ahead.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 10: Visitors and Vexations

_There was only pain. That was all he could remember: the pain. They asked him questions, forced him to say something, and he would say anything. He may have told them his entire life's story, but he couldn't remember anything but the pain. But he deserved it. He'd hurt everyone he'd come to care for and those he didn't give a damn about. Betrayal was painful inside, but now the physical punishment was coming to a head._

_Animal masks swam about him, as well as a busty blond. It was that point when the pain ended. But the nightmares didn't. They said they were done. But then he sauntered in. He promised pain. He promised hatred. But most of all he promised that he would never be defeated. And the nightmares altered into bizarre realities with red moons and crosses. And pain. So much pain. So different from seeing hundreds of people slaughtered. He was made to hear their pain._

_Now he felt his pain and heard theirs. Two terrible forms meshing together to create monstrous creatures that plagued his dreams. They weren't particular about when they'd show...or when they'd leave. He'd always been a creature of the night, but now he feared the terrors it brought to his dreams. Screaming terrors that splayed fluorescent blood every time a katana sliced a throat or a shuriken bore gaping holes in soft flesh._

_There was always one left standing. His black hair stuck up in the back like a rooster's tail. He wearily looked up, only to be violently run through with three different katanas, each of them leading to three different hands. Three different bodies. Three different Itachis..._

Sasuke didn't bolt awake like he would have preferred. He fought back, begging to be freed from the pain, only thrashing uselessly. As he slid into consciousness, he wrenched himself from the couch and onto the floor, desperate to escape his own murder. He lay there panting, clutching his wrist, which he had smashed against the coffee table in his descent. The room was dark, and Itachi's face lingered in his vision as bleached light.

He groaned as he heaved himself back onto the couch. He was sore, but movement wasn't painful nor nauseating anymore. Thank goodness, because he wanted to puke after those nightmares. Damn that Itachi. If he hadn't managed to use Tsukuyomi before...damn him. It figured he'd leave a lasting impression not only of what he'd done, but also of what he wished to do. Too many times Sasuke had seen his own death, and too many times was it shocking.

The clock read 10:31. So he'd managed a few hours of undisturbed sleep before the nightmares began. He had been more tired than he initially thought. Sasuke stood and began pacing the living room. His stomach burned with hunger, but he resisted a snack. He had a tasty bowl of ramen to look forward to. He never thought to admit it while Naruto was crazy about the dish, but Ichiraku Ramen was indeed the best ramen shop in the Fire Country.

Pad pad pad pad. Pivot. Pad pad pad pad. Pivot. Pad pad. Examine clock. Pad pad. Pivot.

A knock on the door made him jump despite his expectations. The clock now said it was eleven. Which meant Kaori had gotten back in a hurry. He strode towards the door and casually opened it. A pink head glanced up and green eyes met his. Sasuke leaned against the doorframe, waiting for her to speak first.

"Hum, hello, Sasuke-kun," she said shyly. "I wanted to know...how are you feeling?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I'll live."

"Ho, well, um. That's good." Sakura shifted her weight on her feet. She pulled out a small basket and held it out to him. "I brought you some fruit. Mostly apples. To help you get better and to keep you from getting sick again."

Sasuke took the basket and examined the apples, then looked back at her. She was fidgeting and staring at the fruit.

"Thanks." Sasuke allowed one corner of his mouth to lift. Sakura lifted her head in surprise and saw his almost-smile. She smiled back.

"Get better soon. We need you for missions, you know."

"Right." Sasuke closed the door.

Sakura stared at the door for a moment before turning to leave. He'd been abrupt and stand-off-ish as usual, but he managed to say thanks. One step closer to Sasuke returning to his normal, cranky self.

He didn't usually talk to her at all. Now he'd said...Sakura counted...four words to her in one night. Definitely an improvement.

Her step was considerably lighter as she headed home, ready for a hot shower and a good book. The hardest part of the mission had been dealing with a hyper-active Naruto who couldn't keep his mouth shut. He was so excited about his date with Hinata that, despite her inital happiness at focusing Naruto's attentions elsewhere, Sakura was beginning to regret the setup. By now there was no doubt the entire country knew Naruto had been on a date.

Kaori passed by carrying a take-home order of ramen. She was still wearing her blue apron and white hat. Sakura waved. Kaori saw her, flushed guiltily, and dashed away before any conversation could be struck. Naruto had mentioned something was up with Kaori, but he wasn't too specific. Sakura wondered if something had gone wrong for her test. Instead of heading home, Sakura made a detour to visit Iruka's house. He was bound to clear things up.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Relief was overwhelming as Kaori entered Sasuke's apartment building. She wasn't ready to tell Sakura about her epic failure. She'd ruined her test, Iruka's classroom, and Hinata's dress. Which was still at Naruto's apartment. If Sakura was back, Naruto was bound to be. She still wanted to talk to him. Mostly about his date with Hinata. Perhaps the dress could still be rescued. Of course, it depended how much longer Sasuke would want her to stick around and be his "servant". She had to admit he hadn't been so demanding as she would have if someone offered their services for the day. She'd have had the whole apartment cleaned. Most likely the pain in his groin kept him from thinking clearly. Which could explain why he told her so much of himself while his closest friends complained about his silence.

Sasuke opened the door tentatively, as if expecting someone to jump him. Kaori held up the box of ramen proudly.

"I made it myself," she promised. "It's really good. I invented a new mix and tried it earlier. Lucky you, get to be the first person to try it."

Sasuke lifted a brow and let her in.

"Don't look at me like that. Else I'll just pay Naruto a visit with this hot, tasty bowl of ramen."

Kaori set the carry-out on the coffee table and hunted down pair of chopsticks. She noticed that the room had been straightened up and everything seemed to be in order. Apparently the invalid was feeling much better. He sat on the couch and held the bowl under his chin, touching some noodles on the chopsticks to the tip of his tongue. Satisfied that they were cool enough to eat, Sasuke wolfed the ramen down. Kaori stared at him in awe, seeing much of Naruto's ramen manners in the event.

Sasuke stopped. "Wurt?" he muttered through soup and noodles.

Kaori shook her head. "Sorry. You just eat like Naruto."

Sasuke swallowed his mouthful and smirked. "I do _not _eat like Naruto. I'm just very hungry. Haven't had a real meal in days."

"Then it must be good." Kaori returned his smirk. Sasuke only rolled his eyes and continued eating, this time more slowly. Kaori pace around the apartment, snooping through the books and scrolls across the room, peeking into the bedroom and bathroom. Even if Sasuke had wanted her to clean everything, there was nothing to do. His apartment was immaculate. Sheesh. She sauntered back to the couch as Sasuke drained the rest of his ramen. His smacked his lips silently and leaned into the couch. He looked very satisfied. Kaori took the bowl and threw it and the wooden chopsticks away. She returned to the couch and clasped her hands behind her back expectantly.

"So how'd I do today?"

"Hm?" Sasuke opened one eye.

"I mean, are you satisfied?"

His eye closed. "Hm."

Kaori's nose twitched. "Perhaps you should sleep in bed tonight?"

"Mrm."

Fine. Kaori heaved one of his arms around her shoulder and practically dragged him into his bedroom. She had a distinct feeling that he was acting lethargic on purpose, but he hadn't dismissed her just yet. So the servitude continued. Somehow she managed to heave him onto the bed and yank some covers over him. At that point he opened his eyes and considered her.

"I don't know what it is, but..."

"Eh, what?" Kaori stopped adjusting the covers.

"Good job, rookie," he said instead. "I think you're done."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Go home and sleep."

"Thank kami-sama!" Kaori stood abruptly. "I thought this night would never end! Next time we meet don't even think I'll be so accommodating. I'm _never _this civil to people, much less assholes. Have a good night, Sasuke-temee."

As Kaori stormed out and slammed the door, Sasuke felt his blood boil. The _nerve _she had..._What a bitch! _Yet he couldn't help smiling slightly. She'd had him going to the entire day. As the sleepiness returned, Sasuke couldn't help thinking that the rude ones seemed to become his closest friends...

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kaori was even more nervous returning to school than she had been on her first day. The weather was dreary, which meant lessons would definitely take place indoors. Probably in a different room considering Iruka's classroom was scorched and soaked. Naruto hadn't been home last night, so Hinata's wretched dress was still dying in his apartment. She would have to pay full price for the damages. Unfortunately, her last couple of paychecks had gone to necessities, like food and the water bill. She knew once she was a Genin she would earn wages doing missions, but she couldn't help hoping that maybe she could juggle the missions and her job at Ichiraku. Apparently, being a Shinobi was a career, so unless she wanted all her hard work (and Naruto's and Iruka's) to go to waste, she'd better stick with the lesson plan.

Her heart felt heavy as she padded down the halls of the Academy. She was back in her own clothes, but since she had yet to see Naruto, she still wore his sandals. They gave her so much more freedom of movement than her boots. He probably wouldn't even miss them.

Unsure of where to go, Kaori entered Iruka's classroom. She froze in the doorway at the sight. One would never know that two days ago the room had been on fire and consecutively doused with water. Even the hole in the wall made by Naruto's kunai during his birthday party had been repaired. And the room was immaculate. Except for the large desk in front. It was always covered with papers. Kaori tip-toed in, wary of the emptiness of the room. The room was cold, like it had been unoccupied for a couple of days. She sidled up to the desk and shuffled through the papers. They weren't Iruka's usual paperwork.

"We've just redone the classroom so it doesn't have that icky smell you guys were always complaining about!" came a voice outside the door. A large man with eyeglasses froze when he saw Kaori, several children dashing into the room from behind him.

"May I help you?"

Kaori eyed the children, who took their seats at the tables. One snot-faced kid took the seat she'd come to be familiar with.

"I was looking for Iruka. Have you seen him?"

"Not for a couple of days. He no longer works here."

That sent a pang through Kaori's gut. "He...what?"

The man drew her aside to avoid the ears of the kids. "I have a class to teach, so I really can't help you out. If you go down the hall you can see Iwashi at the end of the hall. He'll be able to help, I'm sure. For now..." He ushered her out the door. "Sorry."

Kaori stared at the closed door for a moment, still stunned by "no longer works here". Like the pang that had suddenly hit her gut, a weight akin to a fist hit her too. It was her fault that Iruka had been fired from his teaching position. Of course he was still a Shinobi, but he would no longer train the future generations of ninja. And all because of her god-forsaken clumsiness and perpetual failure. Along with Iruka's career sinking into the depths were her hopes to one day join Naruto and Sakura as a ninja. He was without a doubt the only capable person who was willing to take a her in and teach her more than he normally taught any student. Now what was he supposed to do? Kaori could just imagine Iruka in his apartment, drinking cheap sake, overweight and roiling in an armchair while he stared at the television in a stupor, finding no spark in life.

No. That wasn't how things were going to be. She still had a chance to get Iruka his job back, even if it meant she wasn't going become a ninja. She could always go back to the _Inazuma_. Iruka didn't have something to go back to.

Instead of heading for Iwashi's office, Kaori left the Academy and headed for Tsunade's office. She stormed up the stairs, furious that there had to be so many, and flew past Tsuande's assistants, who were laughing hysterically at some comic in the paper.

"Did you see...?" Izumo started.

"Naw." Kotetsu assured. And they went back to reading.

Kaori rapped on the door. Tsunade ordered her to enter, and she burst in.

"Tsunade-sama, I wish to speak with you." Kaori bowed swiftly.

"Why else would you be here? Continue."

"I've been told that Iruka doesn't teach at the Academy anymore. Is it true?"

"Yes. It was my order."

Kaori gripped the back of a chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. "How could you do such a thing? His favourite things in the world were his students! His meaning of life was to give them meanings in life, and you took that away from him. Now what meaning does his life have? That's be like taking pollen from bees, or water from fish. Bad things will happen if-"

"That's enough!" Tsunade interrupted harshly. "I have no business explaining myself to you. And you ought to have been taught by now to hold your tongue."

"I...hang out with Naruto a lot," Kaori admitted.

"Ai..." Tsunade folded her hands in front of her face and rested her chin against her fists. "Iruka will return to his job at the Academy. I only released him from his burdens until he finishes with your training."

"...Oh."

"I felt he wasn't doing his students nor you justice by dividing his focus. Now that he doesn't have to choose between you, I believe you will truly benefit from this training."

This information slowly sank in. "So...him not teaching anymore...that has nothing to do with the, uh, test I recently failed?"

Tsunade chuckled. "If anything, it was a confirmation of a long-overdue decision. I'd been debating this for a while now. Iruka feels it's the best course of action as well."

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you all my focus before, Kaori."

Kaori jumped and turned to see Iruka sitting in a chair behind the door. She had completely missed him when she barged in to see the Hokage. She stared a moment before practically leaping on him with a hug.

"I'm so glad you're not fired," she said sincerely, squeezing her arms around his neck. Then she pulled away and cleared her throat, aware of the sudden display of affection. Iruka's cheeks were pink.

"So, uh, I still have a chance to be a ninja?"

Tsunade snorted. "Of course you have a chance. You probably won't be sent on any undercover missions is all. Unless you learn etiquette elsewhere. I wouldn't worry about it."

Kaori couldn't have heard better news. Her nervousness and fear during the past few days had been unnecessary, which made the relief all the grander. Iruka patted her shoulder.

"Shall we begin? Hokage-sama's set aside an area where we can learn and train at the same time."

Kaori bowed again to Tsunade. "Thank you Tsunade-sama. Thank you very much." She turned and left the office in front of Iruka's gesturing hand. When the door closed, Tsunade sat back with a sigh.

"Maybe if Naruto's bluntness has rubbed off on her, some of her politeness will rub off on him. Even a sailor has better manners than he does."

Shizune nodded. "He's gotten better, Tsunade-sama."

"Right. Even so, he's not ready to be Hokage. I'm waiting for the right time."

"Do you know when it might happen?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I still have many decisions to make. Several of them will depend on Kakashi's reaction to Kaori's training. In a couple months, we shall see."


	11. Realizing and Reckoning

Caranril: Yay for working all weekend! That just means an earlier chapter for those who are interested.

Legolas: Thanks to Miss Mouse. We are very pleased that you like it.

Caranril: Do you hafta be so stuffy?

Legolas: I'm just being polite.

Caranril: Show some of that politeness to your author, eh?

Legolas: Not in the contract, dear one.

Caranril: Hm...drat. Well, before writing this, I was interested in finding out exactly what a Mary Sue was, for I knew those were OFCs. So I researched and came to the conclusions that I couldn't write a Mary Sue character even if I _wanted _to. Unless I put myself in a fic. Yeah, so no worries. In a class I took, the professor said to write what you know about. I guess I'm not doing too badly.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 11: Realizing and Reckoning

_...hope that things are working out for you. It might be a while before I can send you another message, but I wanted to hear your voice. Let me know how the training is going and say hello to Naruto and Sakura for me._

Kaori fiddled with her Gelel stone earring, tempted to play the message again. Temujin sounded so tired, but so happy. There was something he wasn't telling her, and that something was probably too important to send to a Gelel stone. She'd have to wait. In another month, she'd know whether or not she was to become a Shinobi.

She sneezed. "Can we make this a quick one, Naruto? I'm not too fond of getting sick."

"Aw, you just need to warm up, is all. C'mon! Let's run!" Naruto sprinted away energetically, his scarf fluttering behind him. Kaori moaned and followed, feeling too cold and sore to complain. It wasn't right for it to be this cold and not snow. The cold air bit her lungs as her breathing deepened. Her muscles did not enjoy this run at all. And her nose would not stop streaming. And there was Naruto, who seemed to thrive on the discomfort. A thought crept into Kaori's mind that an experiment with Naruto and caffeine would be quite fun.

She had to admit she was getting better. Naruto demanded so much of her, while Iruka had indeed given her his entire focus. She could create a bunshin without trouble, and even managed to look something like Tsunade at one point. Naruto made her do lots of physical activities, particularly running through the icy streets of Konoha. She had much upper body strength to begin with, but running distances had made her very winded. She still couldn't keep up with Naruto, but she was able to complete his courses with collapsing. Definite improvement. Could it really be enough to satisfy Kakashi?

Kaori saw the Jounin occasionally, but he always had his nose stuck in a book, so he never noticed her. Which was all the same to her because he made her feel...inferior. Kind of like how Neji made her feel. Naruto had once explained some of Neji's background and his difficulty trusting people. It gave Kaori some understanding, but that didn't change that she didn't care for him much. And she had a sneaking suspicion if Tsunade sent a team back home with her, Neji would be one of the members.

Home. She'd puzzled over it for some time now, and she realized she never really had a home. Not truly. And the way things were happening in Konohagakure, she might end up calling a foreign country home. For she felt at ease and comfortable. Mostly, anyway, for all the talented ninja still made her feel nervous. But the thought of a real home made her warm inside, and gave her a little more energy to catch up with Naruto.

"Hey there," Naruto said cheerily, his own nose and eyes liquefying in the cold. Kaori couldn't manage words between her breaths, so she gave him a nod instead. They'd gone from running on the ground to leaping amongst the tree branches. Kaori had gotten turned around in the woods, but Naruto knew exactly where they were going. They left the forest and continued along buildings, which Kaori had a difficult time recognizing in the dark. Naruto slowed, then stopped and dropped to the street. Kaori plopped next to him, resting on one knee.

"Never...again," Kaori gasped. "Cold...hurts..."

"Ah, it's good for you." Naruto let her catch her breath. "We got one stop to make before we go back."

"Go back? Like running?"

"Yup."

Kaori groaned loudly. Naruto gave her a stern look and then walked through a gate into a courtyard. Kaori staggered after him, the strangest feeling in her limbs of being hot from exercise in the freezing air. Then the decorations in the courtyard distracted her from any discomforts. Bright lights were strewn around the buildings and in the trees, and a door was open across the way that revealed warm light and merry sounds. Naruto strode towards the door, which led into a huge mansion. Kaori felt intimidated, particularly because she was wearing her training clothes. She left her sandals at the door, relishing the heat wafting from within, and followed Naruto.

"What are we doing here?" she asked quietly, wary of many voices and noises getting louder.

"Do you know what today is?" Naruto asked nonchalantly.

"December...December...guess I don't know the exact day."

"Twenty-fourth. Which means it's..."

"Soon to be December twenty-fifth? I don't know!"

"Christmas Eve!" Naruto gestured into a large hall filled with many people, including Shinobi Kaori had met at Naruto's birthday party. Hinata approached the pair and bowed.

"Welcome! Care for any refreshments?"

"I'm gonna get something to eat. Have fun, Kaori!" Naruto stalked off, oblivious to the fact that Kaori was frozen in place and staring about in bewilderment. Hinata touched her arm lightly.

"Everything all right Kaori-san?"

"Eh. No. I mean, we were training, and now I'm at a party all sweaty and gross and...what's Christmas Eve?"

Hinata stared blankly for a minute. Then she flushed and tapped her forefingers together.

"Y-you never celebrated Christmas?"

"What's a Christmas?"

"It's an old custom where we gather with family and friends and exchange gifts. It was a religious holiday, but nowadays just about everyone celebrates Christmas. You don't have Christmas where you're from?"

Kaori shook her head. "If we did have Christmas, I never celebrated anyway. Winter was just a time to struggle to survive."

Hinata was silent, and Kaori felt no need to elaborate on the subject.

"Well, um, now you're here," Hinata said uncomfortably, "and if you'd like you may bathe and change clothes. I wouldn't mind lending you some of mine. You're taller than me, but about the same..."

"This is your house?" Kaori said in amazement.

"Hm? Oh yes. This is the Hyuuga residence."

"You must be rich," she surmised.

Hinata giggled. "No, but a lot of people live here. Members of the head family. Sometimes it gets crowded."

"Like now." Kaori surveyed the room, which held so many people. People dancing, talking, eating and drinking, and in the far corner was a glorious fir tree bedazzled with lights and shiny balls. People were exchanging gifts beneath the twinkling lights. From what Kaori could tell, this holiday was very pleasant. Except...

"I, uh, don't have any gifts to give people," Kaori said, heat rising to her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it," Hinata said warmly. "If you want to bathe..."

Kaori agreed, and Hinata led her away to wash up. After smelling immensely better and clad in clean albeit short pants and a jacket, Kaori ventured to join the party. She hovered shyly near the walls, hoping to see someone she knew whose name she could remember. The dog boy, Lee's sensei, that lazy ANBU guy, Neji...Kaori stiffened as he approached her. He always looked so mad. Was it because she was wearing Hinata's clothes? Or the fact that she was in his house?

"Kaori-san," he said shortly, standing stiffly with his hands clasped behind him. "Merry Christmas." He drew his hands out to reveal a small package wrapped in red. Kaori stared at it a moment before taking it gingerly.

"It's...what for? I mean, thanks." Kaori peeled away the red paper and opened the box. Inside was a pack like the one Naruto always wore on his hip. Except this one was brand new. Kaori pulled it out and gaped at the gift.

"I noticed you don't have a pack for carrying weapons or wire," Neji said matter-of-factly. "Hinata said something about you not having much of an income, so I figured...well, what else could one give a ninja rookie for Christmas?"

Kaori met his white eyes and gave him a smile. "Thank you, Neji. Thanks." She attached the belt around her waist and admired the pack on her hip. It lacked weapons, but it made her feel much more like a Shinobi. Then she looked back at him.

"I don't have any-"

"Don't worry," he interrupted. "You're a guest. It's better if you don't spend money needlessly anyway." He allowed her a small smile before lowering his head slightly and walking away. Kaori felt a warm fuzziness inside. Maybe she'd misjudged the Hyuuga man...

"Kaori!"

She turned to see a pink head bobbing towards her. Sakura, Ino, and Hinata approached her, carrying a large box with a gigantic bow on top.

"Merry Christmas, Kaori," Sakura said breathlessly. "We all figured you needed something proper for a ninja to train in, so we pooled together and got you...this!" She held out the present, which Kaori eagerly unwrapped. Her heart skipped a beat as she touched the fabric. She pulled out the suit and held it up. The legs of the jumpsuit ended at her knees and stretched to her chest, where it was attached to fishnet sleeves. The second part of the suit was separate, coloured a dark blue, that zipped all the way down the front. It was like a dress with a high collar and no sleeves. The hem was several centimeters shorter than the legs of the jumpsuit. And it looked like it would fit her perfectly.

"You guys..." Kaori said, at a loss for words. "Thank you so much."

"I knew your measurements from the time you wanted that dress," Hinata said.

"I'm sor-"

"Stop apologizing already!" Ino said, jabbing an elbow into Kaori's side. "She said not to worry about that dress! Anyway, you'll look fabulous in this, and Sakura said it wouldn't be too girly for you."

"Was I right?" Sakura asked. Kaori nodded, speechless. Then she grabbed the three other girls and gave them a huge hug.

"I'm gonna to put it on right away!" Kaori pranced to the bathroom, where she neatly folded Hinata's clothes and put on her new ones. Instead of putting her bandana back on, Kaori studied herself in the mirror for a moment. She tucked the bandana into her new pack and left her hair in its chop-sticked knot. When she returned to the trio waiting in the hall, Ino squealed and Sakura laughed and Hinata clapped as they embraced her. Kaori couldn't remember being happier.

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Shinobi and other guests came and went during the evening. Kaori didn't know half the people there, but with Sakura and Ino and occasionally Hinata (who shyly visited her other guests) around, she didn't mind the crowd at all. In fact, she didn't even notice the time until Sakura and Ino said they must leave so they could be with their families for the rest of the evening. At that point, Kaori wondered where Naruto had been all night. He wasn't too difficult to find, planting himself by the tree to watch all the presents being exchanged. He even had a substantial pile beside himself.

"Does Christmas bum you out too?"

Kaori turned to the voice, only to wrinkle her nose at the smell of sake on their breath.

"This is my first Christmas," she said simply, taking the bottle offered by the stranger. Not quite a stranger, for she knew he was one of Tsunade's assistants. He had a strip of cloth across his nose and shockingly spiky black hair. His nose crinkled in appreciation as she gulped down some of the drink.

"Then you don't know what you're missin' out on. Bein' aloooone and all that during the 'happiest time of year'." The Jounin snorted. "I only come to these things for the free sake."

"Sake?" The other assistant joined them. "I ran out."

"Here, Izumo, we'll share mine." The spiky-haired one took the bottle from Kaori and handed it to Izumo.

"Kotetsu, what would I do without a friend like you?" Izumo downed the rest of the bottle.

"Be sober?"

"The hell I will." Izumo coughed. "We need more. Who's this?"

"She's uh, she's uh...what's your name?"

"Kaori," she said in amusement.

"Come drink with us Kaori," Kotetsu offered. "See if you can hold your own."

"Only kunoichi who can is Anko, but the only bastard to beat her is Jiraiya. He's legendary all right." Izumo poured another bottle into three shot glasses.

"To the legendary drinker!" Kotetsu toasted.

"To us, the hotties!" Izumo replied.

"To sake!" Kaori stated. Kotetsu and Izumo looked at her then clinked then glasses in agreement. After that first shot, many more followed, until Izumo and Kotetsu were too drunk to stand properly. They amused themselves with a thumb war while Kaori watched the crowd. Uchiha Sasuke had just entered the hall and many girls had clung to him like he was a lifeboat.

"Bastard..." Kaori mumbled. Izumo looked at her in shock.

"Who me? What did I do?"

"You're not the only bastard around, idiot," Kotetsu slurred. "She was talking about me."

"No, the Uchiha. He really irritates me."

"Go get 'im!"

"Yeah, you can take him!" Izumo offered a shot, only to pass out and drop the glass on the floor. Kotetsu couldn't stop laughing. Kaori stood abruptly, probably too quickly as she swayed dizzily, but managed to step forward in a semi-straight manner. She dove her way into the Sasuke fanclub and grabbed a free spot on his arm.

"Care for a dance...Uchiha?" she sneered. Sasuke sneered right back.

"Not really...Akumako." He went with her anyway, much to the disappointment and fury of the girls who'd been asking the same question.

"Thanks for the rescue," Sasuke said shortly.

"I wasn't rescuing you. I just didn't want innocent bystanders to get hurt." Kaori tipsied around Sasuke, trying to goad him into a fight, only to be given a raised eyebrow.

"Drinking much lately?" He could smell it.

"Maybe a little," she said mischievously. "What did you get me for Christmas?" She sauntered closer, placing a hand on his chest. The raised brow went higher.

"Why would I buy you something for Christmas?"

"'Cause I got you something." Kaori crept closer still.

"And what's that?"

"A little...punch." And with that her fist connected with his jaw. The impact from her drunken swing was barely enough to force his head to move, but it infuriated Sasuke nonetheless. He slammed his palms into Kaori's shoulders. She flew into the wall, then wobbled to her feet, staggering forward.

"That's it! Fight! I wanna...fight...eh?"

Iruka had grabbed her arms and was holding her still. "Kaori! What has gotten into you?"

Kaori turned to look at her captor. He was wearing what he had dressed up in for her etiquette test. "Ah, Iruka-sensei. You're looking so hot again..."

Iruka blanched at her breath. "_That's_ what's gotten into you. Great..." He heaved her behind him as he left the party.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called. "Need some help?"

Iruka shook his head. "No, but those two do. Help with a big bucket of ice water." He jerked his head towards Izumo and Kotetsu, who were both passed out on the floor. He gave Hinata his apologies and dragged Kaori out the door. She fought terrifically at first, but while he was sober and much stronger, she tired out very quickly.

"Geez, Iruka, you're such a party pooper," she said in disgust. "Why can't you...why can't you be fun sometimes?"

"Because it's my job not to," he said simply, putting his sandals on. He couldn't put Kaori's on without her kicking him in the head, and she refused to do it herself. Iruka tucked them into his belt, then hauled Kaori over his shoulder. She screamed and whined the entire way back to her apartment. It was only then that she giggled hysterically and remembered she left her clothes in Hinata's bathroom. Which meant her keys were there too. At this point Kaori had lost her energy and fell into a stupor.

"I want my bed," she complained sleepily.

"Not tonight," Iruka sighed, pulling Kaori back over his shoulder. She was now limp, mumbling randomly as he took her a few blocks to his apartment. He should have had Naruto take her to his own apartment. It would be awkward to explain everything to Kaori when she woke up in the morning, but he wouldn't leave her in the hallway. Especially not on Christmas Eve.

Somehow he managed to take her up the stairs, wishing to avoid a confrontation with another tenant on the elevator. Too many questions to answer. He barely got the door open before Kaori started snoring. She couldn't even wait for the couch. He plopped her down none to gently, quite tired from dragging her all over Konoha. She just let out a particularly unattractive snort and smacked her lips.

After procuring a blanket and a pillow with a fresh pillow case, Iruka tucked Kaori in and placed a bucket beside the couch just in case she threw up when she awoke. He paused in the kitchen, then decided to leave the light on if she woke up when it was still dark.

As he closed his bedroom door, he caught himself in the mirror hanging on the back. He looked rumpled, but otherwise just fine. But Kaori's words rang in his ears: "you're looking so hot again." He flushed, but smiled as well. Maybe he could take the extra time he had off while training Kaori to get out and meet some people. No doubt Izumo and Kotetsu would jump at the chance to take him to a party. They'd been trying to do that for years. But he always had school the next day or papers to grade during the weekends. If anything, Kaori would force him to have fun. Perhaps on Shogatsu he would go out instead of watching other parties on the television. Yes, that would do very well.


	12. Rumors and Revenge

Caranril: Hm, I just read the manga chapter 323, and I decided that Hidan is the coolest Akatsuki of them all. I really shouldn't like him, but there's something about white-haired, crazy evil anime guys (coughsephirothcoughkimamorocough). I'm hoping to goodness that Kishimoto-sama won't kill off Izumo or Kotetsu, cause that would royally screw my hopes to keep this fic canon. Damn...

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 12: Rumours and Revenge

"The hell!" Kaori scrambled off the strange couch. Her heart was beating wildly and she made sure all her clothes were on. Her initial thoughts were that Naruto had taken her home. Then she realized this couch was more comfortable than his. It was completely different. As was the room. She shook a bucket off her foot and dashed for a door, stumbling as she felt all thick and heavy. She threw it open, intent on escaping, but the door only opened a few centimeters before colliding with something.

"Agh!" came a voice from behind the door. A body stumbled back and Kaori advanced, prepared to fight. The man looked up, hand over his right eye.

"Great kami-sama, Iruka?" Kaori backed up a few steps. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize...I thought...are you okay?"

"No I'm not!" Iruka moaned, staggering to his bed. "Ohhhhh..."

"I-i-i-i-i-i," Kaori babbled.

"Just get me some ice, please."

"Yokai!" Kaori dashed out of the room and bustled around the kitchen. She snatched a plastic bag to fill with ice cubes and wrapped that in a towel. She was back at Iruka's side in a heartbeat. She thrust the pack at his head, only to have him groan and shoo her away. She caught a glimpse of the angry red swelling just before he placed the pack over it. A guilty blush spread quickly.

"I didn't know where I was and thought maybe...you know...someone had taken me home."

"I did take you home," Iruka sighed. "Don't you remember telling me you left your keys at the Hyuuga's mansion?"

"I remember now," Kaori admitted. "But I was thinking maybe Kotetsu did something..."

Iruka's brown eye focused on her. "He and Izumo may be clowns and fond of sake, but they aren't the type of people to do that sort of thing."

"People do weird stuff when they're drunk."

"Like you attacking Sasuke?"

Kaori cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah. I know there's no way I could beat him. But when I was drunk it seemed completely plausible."

"By the way, don't you feel anything?"

Kaori tilted her head. "What should I feel?"

Iruka shook his head. "I dunno," he said sarcastically, "maybe _hung over_."

"Oh that," Kaori shrugged. "I've never gotten a hangover."

Iruka stared at her. "Never?"

"Ever. Cap'n said I was one of those blessed few who would never feel a night of drinking when I woke up in the morning." Kaori stretched. "I do feel kinda thick, you know? Like my brain got knocked around a bit."

"Huh." Iruka mused over this, scratching his bare shoulder and yawning. Bare. Kaori realized he was sitting there in just pants. His tan body bore many scars but many contours of strong muscles. His stomach flexed as he yawned even bigger, then an audible gurgle could be heard. Kaori mentally slapped herself and focused her eyes elsewhere. He was her sensei and such admiration could hardly be called appropriate.

"I guess I'm gonna go make breakfast," Iruka said wryly, patting his complaining stomach. "It's Christmas Day, would you like any particular?"

"No, especially after clocking you with a door," Kaori said direly.

"Don't punish yourself. I'll do that when we get back to lessons." Iruka winked his one eye and headed out the door. "Feel free to make yourself at home. Shower's available if you need it."

It wasn't that she needed the shower, but Kaori accepted his offering because she didn't think she could sit and watch Iruka make breakfast in his pant-clad body. He was definitely too hot to be single. What could be the matter with him?

After the shower, smelling much like a man, Kaori snuggled into a fuzzy blue robe she'd found in the cupboard. She didn't really pay attention to what Iruka smelled like, but she imagined the robe's scent was much like his. She heard a knock and proceeded to wrap her hair into a towel before opening the door. Instead of Iruka being there, he was answering the front door.

"Kakashi-san! Hello."

"Iruka-sensei." Kakashi's eye scanned Iruka's face, then flitted past him to see Kaori in her robe and towel emerging from the bathroom. "I've brought Kaori's clothes at the request of Hinata. Seems she left them at the party last night."

Iruka took the clothes. "I don't remember you being there."

"I was running late."

"Of course." Iruka gazed at him suspiciously. "How did you know she was here?"

Kakashi smiled with his eye and held a hand up. "Oh, I just asked around. Someone saw you dragging her home. So tell me Iruka-sensei," Kakashi squinted his eye. "That shiner?"

"Ah, Kaori hit me with the door a little while ago."

"Oh, so it wasn't from wild and rampant sex? Too bad. 'Bye, Iruka-sensei." And he was gone. Iruka's fist was shaking as his other hand slammed the door shut. He sighed and turned only to jump at Kaori's expression right in front of him. He sighed again.

"I have a feeling your appearance didn't help Kakashi already-perverted mind."

"Wild and rampant sex!" Kaori burst out. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"He's Kakashi. You have to get used to him."

"Argh, I'm tired of everyone _saying _that! What makes him so special?" Kaori stalked off to the kitchen with Iruka on her heels.

"Kaori, I think that's something you'll have to find out on your own when he becomes your sensei."

"When he becomes my sensei..." Kaori stared at red burner beneath the frying pan. "Why does he...eh." Kaori turned suddenly and threw her arms around Iruka's waist and squeezed her eyes shut. "Why can't you be my sensei forever?" Iruka made an unmanly squeak in response, and Kaori could hear his heart racing against her ear.

"Ooookay, Kaori." Iruka peeled her away timidly. He patted the top of her towel. "I, uh, am sorry I can't be your sensei forever, but even Kakashi won't be your sensei forever. One day you'll be a strong ninja who will train Genin herself one day."

"Do you really think I'm going to be a good ninja?" Kaori asked hopefully.

Iruka nodded with a smile. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it. Just...stay away from fire."

Kaori made a face, then headed back to the bathroom, unwrapping her towel. Then she twisted up the towel, pranced back, and whipped Iruka in the back of the leg. He yelped and swiped at her, but she was already hopping away, chortling as she locked the bathroom door. Iruka waved his hand in exasperation, then returned to cooking his breakfast with his stinging leg. Just the same, it made him smile.

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Kakashi was thoroughly engrossed in "Icha Icha Sakusen" as he sat on the rooftops of Konoha. He had read the "Icha Icha" series so many times he no longer bothered to count. Which was just as well because every time he read the books he found something he missed. That Jiraiya was a clever author.

Yet engrossed as he was, he couldn't help but wonder where Naruto was. He had every intention of letting slip a rumour, but Naruto did not seem to have come home after the party. Kakashi knew very well that it was Christmas Day and he had no reason to spend it by himself. But he so wanted to have Konoha's noisiest ninja spread some wicked news about a certain Chuunin and his student.

The pattering of dashing feet caught Kakashi's sharp ears. A door slam followed. It was about time, and Kakashi hoped he wouldn't have to be too obvious to catch Naruto's attention. Of course, he was practically sitting in Naruto's window, so how much more obvious could he be?

"What the!" Naruto clutched a chair, startled at seeing Kakashi in his window. "Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing there?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. "Hm? Naruto? Oh sorry. But the sun was hitting the window sill so nicely."

"It's freezing out, Kakashi-sensei. The sun's not gonna be warm." Naruto crossed his arms. Then panicked. "Ah, I have to get ready! Hinata's coming by in a half an hour and we're going to a movie. I gotta get cleaned up!" As he dashed for the bathroom, he called back, "And come in or go out and shut the window 'cause it's freeeeezing in here!"

Kakashi sighed inwardly and entered the apartment. He snapped the window closed and cleared a spot to sit at the table. He placed his book on the table and rested his feet nearby. He prepared what he hoped was an expression indicated much musings and waited. If he failed telling Naruto, he could always chat up Izumo and Kotetsu, though after their night of drinking he wasn't sure they'd be up to spreading rumours.

Naruto hopped out of the bathroom, his hair wet from a quick shower, yanking pants on over his green boxers and searching for a clean shirt. Kakashi watched in amusement, realizing Naruto wasn't aware he was inside now. The younger Jounin stiffened, the looked up and jumped at the sight of his sensei.

"Gagh! Kakashi-sensei!" he whined.

"Hm." Kakashi put on his thoughtful expression.

"What are you...Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

Naruto sighed. "What do you want? You have a funny look on your face."

Funny look. "Oh, sorry Naruto. I just have a strange image that I can't seem to get out of my head."

Naruto's face froze, an odd expression crossing his features. "Ah, Kakashi-sensei, it's not me getting dressed is it?" He started to reach for a discarded towel.

Kakashi blinked. "Eh, no. Sorry, Naruto, you're not my type."

Naruto didn't know if that put him at ease or not. "Whatever."

"It's just-" Kakashi said almost too hurriedly. "Well, I was just at Iruka-sensei's place, and I saw him..."

"Iruka-sensei? Saw him what?" Naruto's interest was tweaked.

"He was half-dressed with a woman," Kakashi said with feigned reluctance.

There was a beat of silence. Then Naruto's eyes bugged open. "Whaaaaaat? Iruka-sensei got laid on Christmas Eve?"

Kakashi closed his eye. Well, that wasn't the reaction he'd been hoping for, but it would do. After all, that's not what he told Naruto.

"Ah, I can't believe it! Iruka-sensei?" Naruto puzzled over this information. Then he was right next to Kakashi, poking him. "Did you know the girl?"

"I know _of _her."

"Well?"

"Hm?"

"Kakashi-sensei! Who was it!"

"Oh." Kakashi got up and opened the window. "It was your friend, Akumako Kaori." And with that he leapt out the window and out of sight. But he wasn't too far gone to hear Naruto's yell of disbelief. He chuckled to himself. He reached into his pack, feeling as though he could finally relax, when he realized he left it on Naruto's table. Damn it. His books weren't safe in Naruto's hand; they wouldn't be treated respectfully. He'd have to wait until later to fetch it, for there was no way he could go back after telling Naruto what he had. In fact, he gave it two hours before it came back to him through Genma.

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"I don't understand, Naruto. I thought we were going to the movies." Hinata tried to wrench her wrist from Naruto's grasp, but he continued dragging her down the street with a powerful will.

"I have to tell someone about this. It's very important. Maybe Kiba? Definitely Sakura. Do you think Sasuke would care?"

"When are you going to tell me this big news?"

"You'll hear it when I tell Sakura. It's reaaaally big stuff, Hinata."

Naruto pounded on Sakura's door. He did a little dance of impatience, then pounded again. He heard an exasperated sound through the door before it opened. Sakura looked peeved, then calmed down somewhat when she saw who it was.

"Naruto. Hinata. Konnichiwa."

"Sakura-chan! Iruka-sensei and Kaori are together!"

"Eh, what?"

"Together! Like, you know." Naruto held up a pinky. Realization dawned on Sakura's face.

"No. Really?"

Hinata looked just as shocked. "I can't believe that. Kaori-san wouldn't do something like that..."

"Kaori-san and Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto and Hinata turned to see Lee behind them. He had a bouquet of flowers in his hands, which he hid behind his back with a blush.

"Yes!" Naruto nodded vehemently.

"I...have to go deliver these flowers," Lee said, then dashed away.

"Sorry, Naruto. I can't go to the movies with you," Hinata apologized. "I just remembered I have...some family coming today to visit. Sorry." She ran down the street and disappeared.

Naruto turned to Sakura, who was shutting the door.

"I hear the phone ringing. Bye Naruto."

He was left standing on Sakura's doorstep, wondering what had just happened. Then he remembered his important news. Sasuke. He'd go find him. He was always at home during holidays.

The elevators were too slow for Naruto's taste as he took the stairs several at a time. There was nothing more energizing than carrying a secret begging to be told. He knocked on Sasuke's door, then paused mid-knock. Kaori's pissed expression came to his mind. Somehow, he doubted very much she'd like him telling people that she was with Iruka. Had he made a terrible mistake?

The door opened. Sasuke seemed mildly surprised to see Naruto, but invited him anyway. He poured some fresh-brewed tea and gestured for him to sit at the bar.

"What brings you here on such a day?" Sasuke said emotionlessly, sipping his tea.

"The weirdest news ever! Kaori and Iruka-sensei are together now!"

Sasuke choked on the liquid. "Huh?"

"They're together." Naruto shrugged as he drank his tea, the initial excitement fading somewhat.

"Iruka-sensei? Twitching Eye Iruka who taught us at the Ninja Academy? He's dating that bitch?"

It was Naruto's turn to snort in his tea. "Bitch? Kaori's not a bitch. Yeah, she's a bit wacky but-"

"So you haven't been introduced to the bitch within yet," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Naruto felt himself getting mad. "Now listen here, Sasuke..."

"Not only did she try to pick a fight, but she has a big mouth and a mean kick. She _said _she was sorry, asked what she could do to make it better, and then turned around and mouthed off again. Someone needs to beat her ass and put her in place. Who does she think she is?" Sasuke slammed his cup on the bar.

"What the hell happened?" Naruto was quite interested in the angry reaction he was getting from Sasuke.

"Nothing." Sasuke went to the door and opened it. "See you later, Naruto."

Naruto growled. He stalked out the door, muttering, "Someone needs to beat _your _ass."

The door slammed loudly, making Naruto's ears ring. Oh, that was just one more reason to goad Sasuke into a long-deserved battle.


	13. Poker and Payback

Caranril: For those of you who have been following along on my attempt at an OC fanfic, I shall be moving into my university dorm this weekend. Which means I may or may not have time to update later next week. I know there isn't a wireless connection in my dorm, but there may be ethernet, which means I could set that up for my laptop and everything'll be hunky-dory. So...we shall see. Just so you know, I have the next ten chappies written, just in case I run out of time. That'll last me the ten weeks of fall quarter if needed. : D

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 13: Poker and Payback

Kaori knew they were up to something. Izumo's face was a hard mask to read, but Kotetsu's revealed everything in his heart. That evil expression meant dire deeds were about to be done, particularly to her. And she had nothing on them. No secret to back her up, and she was running out of time. Damn, she wasn't going to make it.

"I fold," she sighed, slamming her cards face down on the table. Her few chips scattered, only adding to the sound of Kotetsu gathering the kitty. He was positively gleeful.

"You're not good at this game at all, are you Kaori-haisha?" Kotetsu chortled.

"Shut up, you punk," Kaori grumbled, handing her cards to Izumo. "One more round, and that's all I've got." She gestured to her sad pile of chips. This only made Izumo and Kotetsu more irritating. Izumo shuffled and dealt.

"So, what are you guys doing for Shogatsu?" she asked as she picked up her hand and anted up.

"Party of course."

"We'd invite you along, but we figured you'd be doing something with Iruka."

"Argh, how many times do I have to say-"

Izumo laughed. "We _know_. We're just screwing with you."

"Besides," Kotetsu added, "Iruka's coming with us anyway."

"He's...oh."

"We're not disappointed are we?" Izumo asked with mock concern.

"Oh, no!" Kaori said quickly. "That's fine. He deserves to get out and meet some people and have fun. He spends too much time as a teacher he doesn't really live as a ninja."

"True, true." Izumo nodded. "Now, how about this game?"

Kaori returned her attention to her hand only to use every ounce of her being not to freak when she saw her hand. She glanced at the other two. This was a stud hand, so she wouldn't have to bluff about needing different cards. Oh, this was going to be good. She bid a little at a time, only upping Kotetsu's bid by a small amount. And then she went all in and called the hand. She got a raised eyebrow from both Jounin, but they matched her bid and showed their hands. Izumo had nothing, but Kotetsu had two pairs, aces and queens. He reached for the pile.

"Ah ah," Kaori said sternly. She revealed her own hand. Straight flush. Hearts. And the reddening of Izumo and Kotetsu's faces was priceless. She was back in the game, and they'd have to wait just a bit longer to see who would be buying the round of drinks for the next poker meeting. If there was to be another. They might be too shamed if she won to have another game. Men.

She stacked her newly accumulated chips neatly. Oh it was so very nice to have small towers next to her.

"So..." Kotetsu said conversationally. "How long have you been bonking Iruka?"

There was a moment before the comment registered in Kaori's brain. Then with a startling cry she launched herself over the table right at Kotetsu. He yelped and fell to the floor. Izumo laughed as Kaori smacked his friend around, taking the opportunity to steal some of his chips.

"Izumo! Don't just sit there laughing, help!"

"Sorry, but it seems Kaori-haisha is owning you."

With a vicious growl at the nickname, Kaori went back over the table to get Izumo, who tried pinning her to the table only to get a ferocious fight. Izumo tried holding her legs but couldn't get a hold on both at the same time. She kicked mightily, her heel connecting with Kotetsu's nose. He fell back into his chair, blood oozing from his face. Izumo pressed one leg over Kaori's chest to keep her still, while her hands yanked at his hair.

"What the hell is going on in here!" a frighteningly familiar voice screamed. The trio looked at the door, which framed a pissed Tsunade. Izumo released Kaori, who fell off the table. Kotetsu had taken the blood-soaked cloth off his face and was trying to stem his nosebleed. There were cards and poker chips everywhere.

"This is a public place, and you three are using it to gamble and fight. Is this the meaning of Shogatsu to you?" Her fiery hazel eyes pierced through the men and Kaori. Then she righted an upset chair, sat down, and pulled out her own deck of cards.

"Have room for one more player?" she said, her eyes now twinkling. Izumo sat down again, Kaori remained on the floor, unsure of what to do. Kotetsu touched his nose gingerly, deciding that he would be fine, then picked up his own chair.

"Five card draw?"

Izumo and Kotetsu agreed, while Kaori gathered chips off the floor and tossed them on the table. Once the cards had been dealt, the chips redistributed, and the poker faces more or less on, Tsunade glanced at Kaori and said casually:

"So, you and Iruka, huh?"

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"I'll bet it was Kakashi," Kaori grumbled, sitting on the bed and watching Iruka get ready for his night out.

"These things happen," Iruka sighed. "I'm often the subject of many rumours, and will no doubt be the subject of more after tonight. It's not everyday you see a teacher party his heart out on Shogatsu. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Nah, I have to do...plans."

Iruka gave her a look, knowing full well she didn't have plans, but Kaori avoided his eyes.

She snorted. "Plus I totally lost to Izumo and Kotetsu at poker and owe them drinks. I don't have any money right now."

Iruka straightened his collar. He brushed a fuzzy off his shoulder, gave himself one more look, then turned and held his hands out.

"So? How do I look?"

"Like you're ready to lose virginity," Kaori said. Then after Iruka's shocked expression, "Your _party _virginity."

"I've been to parties before," Iruka said huffily.

"I don't mean reading parties."

Iruka threw his Chuunin jacket at Kaori. She caught it and slipped it on, then stood behind Iruka to look in the mirror.

"What do you think? Chuunin? I'd say Jounin." Kaori twirled around, deciding if it weren't for the colour, the jacket was pretty cool. That olive green made her look sickly.

"Just because you can beat up Izumo and Kotetsu doesn't make you Jounin level," Iruka said wryly, only to be caught between the shoulder blades with a slap.

"I gotta go." Kaori took the jacket off and hung it up neatly. "Have fun tonight, Iruka-sensei."

"You too," he called as she left hurriedly. He doubted her claim to have plans, but he wasn't going to pressure her to go to a party. He knew she was uncomfortable in crowds and had been proud that she had gone to Naruto's birthday and Hinata's Christmas Eve parties. Especially after the latter incident. Damn that Kakashi.

A knock brought his attention to the door, which held Izumo and Kotetsu. Kotetsu's nose was swollen and his cheeks puffy. The dark rectangular marks on his cheeks seemed foreign, for he always had them covered by a cloth.

"What's the matter, Kotetsu? Have a run-in with someone's fist? Or foot?"

Kotetsu grimaced at this, only to wince at the pain it caused. "I can't wear the cloth because it hurts too much. She's so gonna pay."

"Yeah she is. For our drinks," Izumo reminded him. Iruka shook his head and grabbed a coat as he followed the pair.

"Where is the party?"

"At Genma's house. He's got the coolest rec room ever seen! That's what happens when you get the good missions, I guess," Izumo said mournfully.

"Yeah. We get stuck with filing most of the time," Kotetsu complained.

"Hm, can't say I get your problems," Iruka said. "Of course, I understand the whole money situation."

"That's why parties like this are good, because then you don't have to pay for your own sake," Izumo said with a glazed look in his eyes.

"Free sake," Kotetsu added. "And hot women."

"Oh yes. Iruka-amai," Izumo grinned wickedly. "Lot's of hot women. And one of them's bound to fall for a hot Chuunin such as yourself."

"Bring it," Iruka said with mock fierceness.

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"You're going to Genma's party too?" Kaori asked, finding it difficult to hide her disappointment.

"Yup. Hinata and I are going together." Naruto ran his fingers through his hair. "You're not going?"

Kaori shook her head.

"But everybody's gonna be there!"

"Precisely. I'd rather not be were everybody else is."

"Kaori, it's Shogatsu. You really shouldn't be alone."

Kaori looked at Naruto's big blue eyes, filled with concern. She chuckled nervously.

"I'll be fine. I've lived all my life alone. What's a holiday that I've never celebrated in the first place?"

Naruto suddenly threw his arms around her. Kaori stiffened, surprised by his tight embrace. She squirmed for a bit, but he wouldn't let go. Then all of a sudden she felt herself relax. Like it was so natural for her to be hugged. It was when she finally relaxed that Naruto let go.

"I can't force you to go, but you really shouldn't be alone." Naruto placed his hand on her arm with a tenderness strange for him. This meant a lot to him.

Kaori smiled genuinely, patting his hand. "I won't be alone." He smiled back, then returned to mussing up his hair.

"It never works so I have to keep it messy," Naruto complained.

"You know what I decided?" Kaori said suddenly, an evil thought coming to her head. Naruto had the biggest mouth she knew. If she wanted the revenge she so longed for (that Iruka also warned her against), what better ninja to use than Konoha's noisiest ninja?

"What?"

"I know Kakashi's the one who started that rumour, which is not true. Yet he seems to be a very observant sort of person. So how could he mistake something like that situation to be juicy gossip material? My thought is he's jealous."

"Jealous?" Naruto gave Kaori his full attention. "You think he wants you? But you said he probably hates you!"

"Of course he does _now_. I mean, he saw me and Iruka." Pause. "Together." Pause. Subtle wasn't going to work. "I'm sure he wished he was in my place."

Naruto's face contorted. "Ehhhhhh! So when Kakashi-sensei said I wasn't his type..."

This Kaori hadn't known, but it only fueled the point she was trying to get across.

"It meant that he preferred the academic type."

"Heh, time to go pick up Hinata," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head with a nervous grin. "Have a good night, Kaori-chan." He ushered her out the door and took off in his orange coat. Kaori felt an evil smile spread across her face. Naruto was going to a party that had nearly every ninja in Konoha attending. Kakashi's "secret" would be out before midnight. All the better to ruin his holiday. It would only be sweet revenge.

She pulled her coat tighter around her as she wandered through the mostly-empty streets. People were wisely celebrating the new year indoors. It was very cold out, the sky still withholding any snow yet more than willing to let everyone freeze their fingers and toes off. But Kaori didn't mind the cold. It was heat she couldn't stand.

Her wandering led her down paths in the woods. It was more of a park, really, for the real woods were outside of the village walls. She knew she'd get lost on those paths, and what better time than tonight when she wouldn't be missed? It would be like an adventure...

Of course, if she was hopelessly lost she could always travel through the trees. That was an advantage to being a Shinobi. Or a Shinobi-in-training.

Everything was dead. Even the dirt paths seemed faded with the colours of nature. There was some light from the moon, but it seemed too sleepy to put much effort into it. Kaori liked the moon. She would sleep on the fighting top on warm nights just to be underneath the clear night sky. Plus it would get her out of the smelly, cramped fo'c's'le.

Hitanichi. She could still feel his long blond hair between her fingers. Phantom memories of him lingered within her. Sometimes she even thought she could smell him. He never smelled like a sailor. He smelled like the sun. He loved the sun, but she taught him to love the moon too. Underneath its waxing light, they had made love on the fighting top. She'd never loved anybody in her life. But she could have. If Hitanichi was still here, she could have...

The moon was high in the sky. Kaori figured it was close to midnight. Time had flown while she wandered the park, yet she felt she hadn't gotten herself lost yet. Perhaps her thoughts kept her grounded. She'd have to lose herself later, because her fingers and toes were quite cold now.

She found a large path that would lead her right out of the park. She approached the bench she had sat on when she first met Sakura. Just for a moment, she sat down, remembering her panic at having just told Iruka she couldn't read or write. He'd been so wonderful to her. She never would have dreamed of making such a good friend from an instructor.

"Have you heard the latest?" a deep voice rumbled behind Kaori. She jumped straight in the air and whipped around, prepared to defend herself. Kakashi squatted behind the bench, tilting his head.

"Apparently I have a major crush on your lover."

Kaori straightened up but remained on guard. She couldn't help but growl. "He's not my lover."

"So I've heard." He stood and walked around the bench. He stalked closer to Kaori, who felt a strange desire to run. She was a fighter, but right now her common sense told her to be terrified. Yet she stayed put, her pride shoving those fears down and forcing her to face this dangerous and angry ninja.

Kakashi slowly circled her, like he would his prey. "That was a fine trick you pulled. It took just a couple of days for the word about you and Iruka to get out, yet you managed to accomplish the questioning of my orientation in just a few hours. And telling Naruto, of course. That was my plan first."

"So...you know your news wasn't true. How do we know _my _news wasn't true?" A part of Kaori told her she should keep her big mouth shut. She froze as strong hands suddenly seized her arms behind her back. He held her wrists with just one large hand. The other hand came up to her neck, which made Kaori stiffen even more. But instead of enclosing her exposed throat, fingers stroked it gently.

"I could show you right now..." Kakashi's voice was husky in her ear, "...exactly what my orientation is." She felt his warm body draw near hers. As frightened as she was, a heat flushed through Kaori's entire body. And despite the cold, she felt very hot. And then the heat was gone as he released her.

"But that's not really my character," Kakashi shrugged, now standing a meter away. "And somehow, I sense it's not yours either." Kakashi held out his right hand. "Shall we call this a truce?"

Sensing no tricks and still warm from her encounter with him, Kaori took the hand and shook it.

"That sounds reasonable," she said steadily.

"Now," Kakashi said, unclasping his hand and sticking both in his pockets. "Seeing how you are apparently alone on this fine evening, as am I, and midnight's in about half an hour, may I buy you a drink?"

Kaori blinked, unsure of what he had just asked.

"After all," he continued nonchalantly. "I should really get to know my future student before the training starts."

It was a brief moment before what he had said sunk in, but Kaori realized what he was saying and couldn't hide her smile.

"Certainly, Kakashi-sensei. You may buy me a drink."


	14. Winter and Winning

Caranril: I get internet in my dorm room through ethernet, and it was working fine this weekend, and I was like "I'll update when I'm done unpacking and decorating". And then my computer broke. I've been waiting for a call from my uncle for help, but today I pushed POWER just to see, and everything's fine. Geez, Buddy, why must you do this to me? So I'm updating while my computer's running. Whew.

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 14: Winter and Winning

On January fourth it finally snowed. But instead of a protective blanket it came down in a flurry of wind and ice. It was especially unusual weather for Konoha, but that didn't stop some of the wackier people from playing in it. Kiba and Akamaru glomped through the huge drifts, shifting the snow about in waves. Snowball wars were very common, so anyone caught outside in the middle of them had no join a side or be pelted by both. Naruto used the snow to increase the intensity of Kaori's training, including those dreaded runs. Despite the fact that he and Hinata were dating and missions were continuously assigned, Naruto found plenty of time to train Kaori hard. He discovered as the days grew closer to her final tests, her training in itself was training for him, for she had suddenly found the much-needed knack for hand-to-hand combat and weapons. After the holidays, it had been like someone threw a switch. Kaori held a new passion for becoming a ninja, one that prided Naruto in that it reminded him of his own desire to become a ninja. He felt she was coming along nicely.

Naruto wasn't the only one who had noticed a change. Kaori's jovial attitude in the classroom had tempered down a bit as she put much focus into her studies. At first, Iruka thought it was because he had met someone while at Genma's Shogatsu party. Like Kaori was jealous, which seemed completely illogical to Iruka. At least, mostly illogical. He even suspected that he secretly wanted Kaori to be jealous. Yet when he'd heard that Kaori had been seen with Kakashi in the exclusive Jounin bar on Shogatsu, he realized she had made peace with the man and was perhaps now looking forward to her final tests. And he knew in his heart that she was ready to become a ninja.

The snow had finally stopped falling during the nights and the streets were able to be cleared. The moon sought to light the beautiful landscape, which entertained Kaori as she sat up the night before her tests. Sleep was pointless, despite the fact that she gotten so little during the week as she studied and trained. Naruto told her she was definitely ready, but her heart was scared. The last test she had ended in disaster, and it seemed very likely that history would repeat itself. Part of her said she was being irrational, but who ever listens to that part?

She hadn't seen Sakura or Sasuke since Christmas Eve. She thought it was just as well because Sasuke would probably want revenge and Sakura was bound to have irritating questions for her. Sakura's intense desires for Sasuke had lessened, but Kaori knew she still obsessed over the angsty man. In fact, Kaori had to avoid several girls who had seen her attack Sasuke and wanted to pay her back. Of course, most of them weren't even ninjas, which wouldn't necessarily stop her from beating them up. One didn't have to be a ninja to fight.

Kaori had hoped Naruto would be around after her tests, either to comfort or celebrate with. Predictably, he was sent on a mission with Sakura, Kiba, and Lee. Hinata was gone too. So if she should be an utter failure, she'd have to let the news burn inside until someone returned.

"You're not going to fail, Kaori-haisha," she scolded, using the nickname "loser" that Izumo and Kotetsu had lovingly given her. They only did that because they liked pissing her off. Which they hadn't done since that afternoon she had kicked Kotetsu in the face and ripped out some of Izumo's hair.

The clear night allowed the sunrise to cast itself on the snow. Kaori had been deep in thought all night, and now with the daylight she felt sick. She was so nervous. Iruka wouldn't tell her if there would be another chance if she failed. This made her even more nerve-wracked. She was shaking as she forced down some cereal and got dressed. The earlier she got to the Academy, the sooner this wretched test would be finished.

The mirror revealed dark circles under eyes and pale cheeks. She hadn't used kohl in a while, but she lined her eyes with it to draw the shadow from her cheeks. It didn't do much good. A knock at the door slowly drew her daze in front of the mirror.

She tried to smile at Izumo and Kotetsu, who stood in her doorway. She wasn't much up for mischief.

"I gotta go soon, guys."

"We know," Kotetsu said.

"That's why we stopped by," Izumo said, looking shifty. "We know you've been stressed and worried over this, but we wanted to say..."

"That you're going to be fine," Kotetsu concluded. He held out a small package. "And present make us feel better, so we figured..."

"This would make you feel better." Izumo smiled broadly. Kaori couldn't help but be curious. And touched. She unwrapped the simple package and stared at the objects inside. Gloves like the ones they wore, with the Konoha symbol on a metal plate on the back of each. There was a scarf like the one Izumo wore on his head, only sans the metal plate. And a new pair of chopsticks that were a black metal.

"They're for your hair," Kotetsu explained.

"I kinda got that," Kaori said quietly, feeling very much at a loss. "You guys..." She stared at them appreciatively, unable to say it.

"Ah, you don't have to thank us," Izumo said sheepishly.

"Sure you do," Kotetsu retorted.

Izumo glared at him. "Besides, that's not everything. If you pass, you get the rest of the present."

"And if I don't pass?" Kaori said quietly. A palm struck her face. Kaori blinked, her own hand flying to the stinging skin. Kotetsu looked peeved.

"Sometimes Kaori-haisha, you really are a loser." He hesitated a moment, then drew her into his arms. Her head rested nicely on his shoulder. Then when he pulled away, Izumo gave her a hug too.

"If you're ready, we'll walk with you to the Academy," Izumo said. Kaori smiled. She put the items into her pack. She closed the door and sighed.

"Here we go," she said quietly. The pair were chatty and kept the mood light on the walk to the Academy, but Kaori kept silent in her thoughts. The building loomed ahead like a maniacal fiend. Kami-sama help her.

"Good luck, Kaori-haisha," Izumo said cheerfully.

"We'll be waiting to hear the news," Kotetsu promised. And then they took off as Kaori entered the into the belly of the beast.

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Kaori twiddled her fingers as she waited for Iruka to come back. He was going to grade her written test, calculate her scores from the bunshin no jutsu and henge no jutsu. And for all she knew he was actually going to take into account her failure at Suzume's test. She thought she did okay on all three tests, but that didn't mean Iruka thought so. She never took a real written test before, and after the studying and taking of the test, she decided they were a teacher's worst invention. Tests were brought into being in order to terrify students. That's exactly what they did.

Iruka entered the classroom, studying papers with a solemn look on his face. Kaori stood, rubbing her hands together nervously. Her mouth was too dry to say anything without sounding terrified.

"So..." Iruka began, sitting at the desk.

"S-so?"

"You did very well on the bunshin no jutsu, and okay on your replication of Tsunade-sama. But you're written final..." Iruka rubbed his temple.

Shit. Time to put the back-up plan into action. Kaori had been hoping she wouldn't need her secret technique, but now...She slowly walked to Iruka and stood next to him. He looked up at her.

"Iruka-sensei," she said pleadingly. Then she gathered Chakra and released her technique. "Kuwaii no jutsu!" Iruka was now gazing upon a small girl with long white pig-tails and huge grey eyes. Her face was slightly plump, but only enough to make her adorable. The grey eyes grew bigger and started filling with tears.

"Iruka-sensei," the girl said in a scared voice, "please don't fail me. Please. Iruka-sensei?" Her hands were clasped together as she begged.

Iruka choked. His own eyes filled with tears at the pitiful little girl at his feet.

"Aw..." he managed to say, desperately wanting to hug the dear thing and make it better. He held out his arms. The tiny girl crawled into his lap and buried her face in his chest. Iruka squeezed her comfortingly. She squeezed back, sniffling into the vest, which she clung onto like it was her life.

The door suddenly swung open. Iruka and the little girl looked up to see Kakashi standing there, a curious look in his eye. With a poof, the girl changed back into Kaori, who was still on Iruka's lap and clinging to his jacket. Iruka felt the change and looked at her, then made an embarrassed noise and let go of his tight grip on her. Kaori hopped up, staring expectantly at Kakashi.

"I, uh, got your message, Iruka, but perhaps you're too busy and I can come back later?"

"No, no, Kakashi, we're not busy," Iruka said hurriedly, standing to face the older man. "See, I was just about to tell Kaori the good news."

"Good news?" Kaori said.

"You mean you hadn't told her yet and she was already on your lap?" Kakashi said wryly.

"It's not his fault," Kaori said. "I used my new technique on him, and he was completely helpless. What good news?"

"So Naruto's been teaching you some of his perverted techniques, eh?"

"No!" Kaori protested, beginning to get annoyed. "It wasn't perverted!"

"I see," Kakashi said, his tone indicating he didn't believe her. Kaori growled and was about to argue some more when Iruka cleared his throat.

"Congratulations, Kaori. You are officially a Genin." He took her hand and shook it.

"I'm...huh?"

"Kakashi's here to put you through one more test. It will determine whether or not he'll take you in and train you."

"I'm...huh?" Kaori was still stunned.

"Shall we begin?" Kakashi said casually. He gestured towards the door. Kaori went out, still at odds, for she had imagined her passing in an entirely different manner. She didn't even get to be excited, for now she was being led directly into another test. She wasn't nearly prepared for this one. Iruka probably did that on purpose.

Kakashi loomed in front of her, looking much taller than he actually was with his funky silver hair. It seemed anti-gravitational like Naruto's. He kept walking, and how far they were going Kaori had no idea. She even began to suspect this was part of the test. They walked through the park and towards the lake. The path was well-worn, but Kaori had never been to this area of Konoha before. The trees suddenly cleared into a meadow, in the middle of which were three wooden posts. It was in front of these posts that Kakashi turned around, holding up a tiny bell.

"This is the test I've given all my students." Kakashi jingled the bell in emphasis. "I'll tell you now, the only ones I have passed were Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke."

"And how many students have you given the test to?" Kaori felt panic creep up. All three were very gifted ninjas.

"That is irrelevant. However, they passed on their abilities to work as a team, not on their ninja skills. And somehow," Kakashi said, his eye grinning, "I doubt you'll be able to with your skills either."

Kaori stifled a growl. Even with Kakashi easy-going attitude, she knew this was no joking matter. He'd only ever passed those three. How could she compete with that? She wished she'd had more time to spend training with Naruto.

"So, the point of this exercise is to get the bell away from me. Only to do so, you must come at me with the will to kill. Do you have a will to kill?"

Kaori was silent for a moment, knowing she should answer no. But deep inside, that strange rumbling was brought to life. A few times in her life she'd been more than willing to kill, but something always stopped her. Except for when the Inazuma had been raided by pirates the second time. Temujin had been on board. Kaori had sworn she'd never again see someone she cared about die at the hands of raiders, and had somehow she had formed Chakra swords and slaughtered the invading crew. She never received any guff from her crew mates after that.

"Yes," Kaori said quietly, trying to quiet the rumbling. She would always attribute it to adrenaline, but something inside was gleeful when violence and pain were imminent. As far as she knew, that came from being alone all her life; no one taught her to quell that monster known as human nature.

Kakashi studied her, noting the dilation of her pupils and the quickening of her breath. She was remembering something that cause her to want to kill. This was very good. Perhaps the test wouldn't be as easy as he thought. He was suddenly on his guard as Kaori reached into her pack. He expected a kunai or shuriken to be thrown at him, but instead she pulled out a pair of gloves and put them on. Then she removed her bandana and pulled her hair out of it chop-sticked knot. She stuck the chopsticks in her belt and pulled another pair out and knotted her hair back up. Then she tied a blue scarf around her head.

"Ready," she said gruffly, keeping in mind the memories that cause the will to kill.

"Okay then. Go," Kakashi said simply, still staying on guard. Once again expecting ninja weapons to be thrown, he found himself dodging blue Chakra swords instead. Her swings had become more narrow, more effective than when he had seen her demonstration in Tsunade's office. She moved with confidence, knowing how her body worked and how to use it well. As Kakashi continued to focus on dodging, he felt a sly thought slip by that Iruka couldn't have been the one to teach her this fighting technique.

While the fighting style was effective, molding the Chakra into swords wasn't efficient, for all the swords did was drain her power. Despite the cold, beads of sweat were forming on her face as she struggled to hit Kakashi. He avoided her with ease, but she could tell he was just barely staying ahead of her. Maybe she could...

Kaori blinked as she realized Kakashi was gone. She let go of the swords and looked around. One second of distraction and he got away. Damn it. She'd never gone through tracking with Naruto, most likely because he was no good at it. Which meant she was no good at it. She closed her eyes and sniffed. There was no smell on the air with everything dead and covered in snow. Yet there lingered a musky scent, much like Kakashi. Kaori dashed for the trees. She rounded one and found him sitting on a branch reading a book. At first she was insulted he'd take the time to read, but then she saw her chance. She threw a kunai at his head, making him duck, and a second at his feet. With a kunai in either hand, she waited for him to jump to clear the second kunai. And then she threw the other two. They struck him in the arm and chest. Kaori felt a twinge of excitement at her hit, then blanched as Kakashi disappeared with a poof.

"A bunshin," she muttered, then noting it was corporeal, "kage bunshin." So he had wanted her to come after this one. Now that she thought about it, why would she be able to smell him unless he wanted her to?

"Shit!" she yelped as an exploding tag was released above her. The branch Kakashi's clone had been sitting on was brought down on top of her.

Kakashi watched in disappointment, sorry that the exercise was over so quickly. Then as the dust and smoke cleared, he saw a small log crush beneath the severed branch. Kakashi perked at the kawarimi. This _was _going to be interesting.

A few meters away, Kaori lay hidden, panting from her close escape. It was hard to be hidden in a forest that was only dead trees, but if Kakashi kept out of sight he couldn't exactly find her himself. Unless he had another kage bunshin running around. Reading books? That didn't make sense.

A thought dawned on Kaori. She remembered seeing Kakashi reading at Naruto's birthday party. Naruto had also once mentioned that the series Jiraiya wrote was Kakashi's favourite, even to the point of obsession. And an evil thought followed that one. He would have to keep such a book in his pack, which was on the other side of his body from the bell. He'd be protecting the bell and not his pack, therefore the key to getting the bell was getting the book. Oh yes this was a good plan. She just had to find him first. So...

Kakashi stayed put, knowing Kaori was impatient was bound to act first. She couldn't be far away after using kawarimi no jutsu. Then a rustling caught his attention. She had stood up a few meters away, looking around cautiously. Satisfied that she was okay, she dashed out of the woods. Kakashi slunk after her, keeping as silent as the dead trees. The snow was annoying though, for it crunched beneath feet no matter how lightly one walked. He watched Kaori, who seemed to be setting up a trap involving wires and exploding tags. It was an amateur trap, but he gave her props for trying. At any rate she could distract him with the explosions. Too bad it wouldn't work because he was already there.

He sensed the presence before it pounced. He rolled to the side as another Kaori tried to tackle him. He could tell this was a clone, but what impressed him was that it was a kage bunshin. Naruto was definitely the one helping her out. Kakashi's head snapped to the left as another Kaori leapt upon him. He was able to fend her off, but the other held onto his legs. The first Kaori stopped making the trap and came straight for him, ready to snatch the bell. A fourth Kaori came from the right, intent on holding the other arm. The first reached for the bell, so close, only to be smacked away as Kakashi heaved the one on his left arm at her. They collided, both going up with poofs. The other two realized they'd failed and scampered away. Kakashi dusted the snow off his clothes and glanced in both directions. Either way would be easy to follow. In fact, he knew by the contact that the one on his right arm had been the real Kaori. So he set out after that one. She did well at running away, but no ninja in Konoha was a better tracker than Kakashi. The escape led across the meadow and into the other trees.

In no rush at all, Kakashi noticed that the sun had gone behind dark grey clouds. His eye adjusted quickly to the change, and he felt the light would be better for reading than with the sun beating down on the pages. He reached into his pack, only to feel weapons and wire. His eye widened and he removed the pack to make sure. It was open. He returned to the spot where Kaori had attacked. Maybe it had fallen out when he rolled. It wouldn't be the first time. But the snow was clean except for the results of the scuffle. Kakashi felt his blood boil. She'd stolen it. That was the only explanation. One of the clones had taken the book while he thought they were after the bell. The little...

Kakashi took off full speed, the speed that was part of his genius. He found her in seconds. She was perched on a branch, leaning against the trunk, studying the inside of the book.

Without even looking she said, "So would you call this porn or erotic fiction?"

"It's a work of art," Kakashi responded, seething.

"Because, you know, there seems to be a decent plot, but the dirty scenes aren't very tasteful."

Kakashi was immediately in front of her on the branch. "Aren't very tasteful?" He was practically exploding. Kaori stood and backed away, finding a tree trunk blocking any further retreat. His one eye was fiery. He raised his hand, and Kaori flinched, figuring he would punch her. Instead he lifted the hitai-ate covering his eye. It was scarred. And as it opened, Kaori saw that same red eye Sasuke had given her when she'd kicked him in the groin. That dangerous-looking eye. But Kakashi's was different. The three black dots swirled into a darker line, and then suddenly things began to change.

It was as if she was underwater. Everything was fluid and thick. She could hardly move, the crushing weight of the sea bearing down on her. Kakashi was swept away by the tide, and Kaori was left alone, struggling to reach the surface before her breath ran out. No matter how she struggled, she couldn't breach. In fact the light was getting further away. Her lungs screamed for air, but she couldn't bring herself to inhale. Not water. Not drowning. She loved the sea! How could it kill her like this? But the need to breath was stronger than her anxiety. She gasped and everything went black.

Kaori blinked, finding herself to be gasping for breath against the trunk of the tree. Kakashi's hand was planted next to her head to keep her from falling, and she was clutching at him weakly. He pulled his forehead protector back down over his eye. His other black eye stared at her unsympathetically.

"Don't mess with the book," he said viciously, holding said book up. Kaori swallowed hard, still catching her breath after...whatever that had been.

"What was that?" she managed to squeak.

"Doujutsu. I captured you in a genjutsu using my Sharingan."

"You call that eye...a Sharingan?"

"That's a topic for another day. Right now," Kakashi pulled away now that Kaori was standing on her own. "Time to finish this."

"Oh, it's finished," Kaori said smugly, holding up the bell. Kakashi stared at the tiny bell, glanced at his waist, then chuckled.

"Even after that encounter with my Sharingan, you managed to have the mind to get the bell. That is indeed commendable."

Kaori grinned. "I do what I can." Then her eyes crossed slightly and she passed out. Kakashi caught the smaller woman before she fell to the ground. He lifted her up and headed for the hospital. Despite resisting the Sharingan well, the effort had caught up with her. Even though he hadn't trained her himself, Kakashi felt a strange pride over her accomplishment of getting that bell. She'd struggled hard in the past four months, and now she was ready to be a ninja. While she rested from the effects of the doujutsu, Kakashi would present his acceptance to Tsunade and arrange for her to begin missions and training immediately.


	15. Recovery and Rebuttal

Caranril: Well, guys. This is the last chappie of this story. My next update will be Part II. Enjoy!

Legolas: And a very happy thanks to Life's Reject. We think this story is f-ing awesome too, and we're glad you think it deserves so much. You are very fabulous.

Caranril: Erm, a long-blond Elf prince shouldn't say fabulous. It sounds gay.

Legolas: Nuh-UH. Talk to the hand girlfriend.

Caranril: Um, um. If you don't like ickiness (that is bloody sort of stuff), skip the italics in the beginning, k?

**disCLAIMER**: While I do not own Naruto nor any affiliated subjects therein, Kishimoto-sama does and therefore he owns my soul.

Chapter 15: Recovery and Rebuttal

_The sky was blood red, and all colours were in the negative. Several Itachis surrounded him, stabbing his writhing body with their katanas. The wretched cross restricted all movement and made breathing extremely difficult and painful. His wrists and ankles were rubbed raw from the tight ropes, but he hardly noticed with the blades entering various parts of his body. Itachi kept a steady pattern, sometimes twisting the blade into bone, occasionally driving the sword into his groin, which immediately made Kakashi pass out. And every time he'd come to in that horrible nightmare._

"_Only sixty-two hours, eight minutes, and fifteen seconds left in this world," Itachi sneered, stabbing viciously. Kakashi tensed for another bought of pain, hearing the metal enter soft flesh. There was a soft gasp. Kakashi opened his eye and saw a woman in front of him. She was clinging to him and the cross for dear life as the swords entered her body instead of his. Every drive of the sword drove the air from her lungs, and her legs almost lost the grip they had around him. Her bleeding mouth bit back moans of pain. Oblivious to who he was stabbing, Itachi continued his administrations. The woman had yet to pass out, but her lids were drooped with exhaustion. Should she lose consciousness, she'd probably fall, and Kakashi would continue to be stabbed._

"_Hang in there," he whispered, unsure that volume would matter, for this was a nightmare. Her warm body was trembling against him._

"_You so owe me," she managed to say before katanas cut her off. As if Itachi had realized that he was no longer stabbing Kakashi, he angled the sword up and drove it between her legs, the tip exiting her stomach and cutting Kakashi. Her screams tore into Kakashi and echoed through the nightmare world. Then her eyes closed, her body went limp, and fell an eternity..._

Every last bit of Kakashi was soaked in sweat as he bolted upright. He'd had the nightmare replaying Itachi's doujutsu many times before, particularly after he used his Sharingan. But the woman protecting him was a new addition. He didn't know who she was, but even so it would be difficult to recognize her in the strange lighting of Tsukuyomi. Seeing her tortured mere centimeters from him had been difficult enough to watch, but if it had been someone he knew...

What brought about this strange nightmare was unknown to Kakashi. It was as if the actual event of his torture had involved that woman, for she was completely woven into the dream. And he couldn't stop the racing in his heart. Why couldn't he dream about his books? At least when he woke in a sweat it wouldn't be from intense pain.

He rolled out of bed and stretched, feeling slightly sore from thrashing about in his sleep. A _real _thrashing wouldn't be so bad compared to katana stabs. Kinky.

After showering and dressing, Kakashi headed towards the infirmary. A day and night's rest should be enough for one to recover from the effects of the Sharingan. Kaori would be happy to know that she was now a full-fledged Genin. At age twenty-two. Kakashi shook his head. That age seemed so unrealistic, but he had to keep reminding himself that she didn't even hear of ninjas until a few months ago. How one could live their life without the knowledge of ninjas, Chakra, and the Kages was beyond him.

There were voice inside Kaori's room, one in particular standing out. Naruto seemed to be announcing something. Kakashi peered in and stayed at the door. Kaori was propped up in her bed with pillows, looking sickly and tired. Maybe she took longer to recover than most people? Several bodies were in the room other than her and Naruto, who was speaking dramatically. Izumo and Kotetsu were right by Kaori's bed, while Sakura was on the other side. Iruka stood next to Naruto, holding something in his hands.

"So we took my old forehead protector, put it on the scarf, and now you have the same hitai-ate that Iruka-sensei and I have worn," Naruto said proudly. Iruka leaned over the bed and handed the scarf to Kaori. She took the scarf, stunned, staring at the worn metal in awe.

"This was yours, Iruka?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," Iruka answered, the same pride in his voice. "And I passed it on to Naruto when he became a ninja. And now, after talking to me and the manufacturers, Naruto had the metal placed on the scarf Izumo and Kotetsu gave you."

"Because you like wearing bandanas so I figured you'd like the scarf better than the headband," Naruto explained.

Kaori ran her finger over the leaf symbol, too mesmerized and speechless to act.

"Here." Sakura gently took the scarf from her hands and placed it on her head. She tied the knot in the back, then adjusted it so it fit in the center. Kaori touched the cool metal on her forehead, a shiver running through her.

"It looks good," Izumo commented.

"Real good," Kotetsu agreed.

"Kaori, welcome to the life of a Shinobi," Iruka said with a smile.

Naruto squawked and leapt upon Kaori with a ferocious hug. She was nearly knocked off the bed, but she returned the hug with as much vigor as she could muster.

"She has made some good friends," said a female voice behind Kakashi.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed. "Hokage-sama, why isn't she healed? She looks like Akatsuki got a hold of her."

"I don't know. Her recovery is frighteningly slow. She says she's always taken a long time to heal, but she has no idea that how slow it really is. If she's injured on a mission, she could die without proper care."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I don't know. Even with my help, the cells from a cut she received from a branch took a long time to regenerate. I'll just have to keep my eye on her." Tsunade pressed past Kakashi and into the room.

"Okay! That's enough for today," she announced. "I need her to rest."

"But Tsunade-'baaaaaachan!" Naruto protested. "She just became a Genin and we have to celebrate!"

"No, you don't," Tsunade said firmly. "Out." Iruka left cooperatively, acknowledging Kakashi on his way out. Kotetsu punched Kaori's arm and Izumo gave her a noogy before they squirmed past Tsunade. Sakura had to practically pry Naruto from Kaori's side.

"Naruto! You'll see her later. She's not going anywhere," Sakura promised, yanking Naruto by the collar. He wore no forehead protector.

"Ow! Bye Kaori-chan!"

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura smiled sweetly as she continued dragging Naruto out the door. He waved at the boy as he went by, then entered the room. Kaori was still touching the metal on her hitai-ate. Like she couldn't believe she was wearing it.

"How are you feeling, Kaori?" Tsunade asked, checking her vitals.

"Tired. And happy. And worried. And tired."

"Worried?" Tsunade pressed the place where the cut had been before.

"Yeah..ow. Now that I'm a ninja, what will I be doing?"

"Missions, of course."

"But the same kind of missions as Naruto and Sakura? I'm not nearly their level."

"You will be soon. Plenty of training with Kakashi here and you'll catch up in no time. After that, when you go on missions, he'll accompany you. I'll just make sure you don't take anything that's going to endanger the other members of your team." Tsunade placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm still confused as to why you are taking so long to heal, but all I can say is more rest. I'll let you go home tonight after a few more tests." She left the room and closed the door.

Kakashi had been reading while Tsunade and Kaori talked, then put the book away as the Hokage left. He took the seat Sakura had been in earlier.

"What did you do to me, sensei?" Kaori said tiredly.

"Honestly, not much. At least, you didn't suffer much from the Sharingan compared to others I've used it on. But I'll promise you that I won't use it again. I don't think too clearly when my books are involved."

"You're obsessed," Kaori groaned.

"Nah, just faithful." There was a moment of silence.

Kaori cleared her throat. "Truth is, I'm not rested because I couldn't sleep well. I kept having these bizarre nightmares over and over again. And I guess I kept screaming, because the nurse woke me up a few times scared to death."

"Must have been some dreams."

"Yeah. There was a guy hanging on a t-shaped thing and being stabbed. Every time I had the dream I would jump on him and get stabbed myself. I knew what was going to happen every time, but I still did it. I swear it really hurt. And then the guy with the sword, he-" Kaori fell silent. "Um, that is to say, I started to scream. And..." Kaori stopped again, only this time at the expression in Kakashi's eye. He seemed completely spooked.

"Kakashi-sensei? Are you okay?"

Kakashi blinked rapidly, then shook the cobwebs from his head. "Sorry. It sounds like it was frightening. Do you, uh, know who the guy was?"

"With the sword? No, I only saw him from behind."

"Uh, no. I meant the guy on the cross."

"I don't know, he...cross?" Kaori tilted her head. "Oh, you mean the t-shaped thing? How did you know it was a cross?"

"Oh, um, just figured that the, uh, way it sounded, being a t-shape and tied to it made him on a cross. Yeah."

"I never said he was tied to it. I said he was hanging." Kaori sat forward.

"Well, I, uh, figured that too." Kakashi stood. "I have to-"

"Kakashi." The tone in her voice made him freeze despite his desperation to leave the room. "That man, was it you? Was it...your memory?"

Kakashi stayed with his eye facing away from her. "It was Uchiha Itachi. He used his Mangekyou Sharingan on me. I...still have dreams about it."

Kaori sighed. "I'm sorry. I mean, I 'm sorry I invaded such a private thing."

Kakashi looked at her. "Invaded? It was just a dream..."

"No. Well yes it was, but...I don't know how I do it, but sometimes I'll dream other people's memories. I don't know if it's eye contact or just physical contact or what, but sometimes I dream them. I dream in first person too, so sometimes it's hard to tell whose memory is whose. I don't usually find myself participating in them though." Kaori felt the need to shut up as her mouth kept going. Not even Temujin knew she had access to people's memories. It was in fact a scary thought. And now she'd told Kakashi, who had every right to know her secret if he was going to be training her one-on-one from now on.

Kakashi stroked his chin in thought. Such a claim would indicate telepathy, but unless it was a jutsu he highly doubted it. So what could possibly allow her to subconsciously access memories and bring them to surface in her own dreams? Perhaps the answer to this question would also solve her slow recovery.

"Have you told Hokage-sama about this?"

Kaori's eyes widened. "N-no. But please don't tell her! If she found out I did this sort of thing she'd kick me out of Konoha and I'd never be a ninja!"

"That's ridiculous. I meant it for your own safety. It would be bad if you happened upon someone's memory that revealed dangerous information."

"Please don't tell her," Kaori said, nearly whimpering. "You're the only person who knows."

Kakashi remained silent, debating her request. Hokage-sama should definitely know, but this was something Kaori had kept desperately hidden all her life.

"I won't say anything for now, but if I think I should for whatever reason later, I will."

"Thank you," Kaori sighed, closing her eyes and sinking back into her pillows. As she lay there, she fell asleep. Kakashi looked at the clock on the wall and decided he had time to read and watch over her in case she had more nightmares. No sense in bothering the nurses right now.

He pushed the recent conversation out of his mind and focused on his book. Within minutes he was completely enthralled.

There was no clue as to how long he'd been reading before the first whimper came. As soon as Kakashi looked up, Kaori convulsed and screamed as if in pain. He dropped his book and grabbed her arms, shaking her roughly. Kaori gasped and gripped at his arms, then let go and curled into a ball.

"I hate this," she said shakily, squeezing her eyes shut. "Make it stop. Please, just make it stop. It hurts. Stop..."

Kakashi felt a rare sense of pity to see her writhing so. He faced these dreams quite often, but obviously they were more frightening and more vivid in her own mind. Hopefully it would pass and the memory would be only a memory. He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand between his. She made a small noise, then moved so that he could have more space to sit. Kakashi adjusted the pillow behind his back and let Kaori lean against him. She felt frail and trembling to him, which made him feel for her even more. She was a headstrong woman who would be embarrassed to be in such a dire state, yet she needed someone there for her. He removed the scarf from her head so the metal wouldn't leave an uncomfortable mark. His book was on the floor too far away to reach, so he allowed his hand to be held in a vice-like grip by Kaori's, which was slowly relaxing. Kakashi wondered if what he had experienced in Tsukuyomi had really been bad enough to give Kaori such grief. If it wasn't so bad, her dreams made it so.

His lids grew heavy and his head hung tiredly. Apparently he hadn't slept so well either. And before he knew it he fell asleep.

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kakashi awoke with a jolt and a snort. Sasuke was standing in front of him, looking amused.

"I was told I could find you here," he said with a smirk.

Kakashi sat up stiffly, his back aching from its uncomfortable position against the pillow. He felt so tired despite the sleep. Kaori was still curled against him, breathing loudly. Kakashi slid his arms under her and shifted her to the pillow. She murmured something before cuddling into the pillow. As he stood, he teetered dizzingly. His knees felt so weak he nearly collapsed, and when Sasuke glanced back Kakashi pretended to be picking his book up off the floor. He scratched his head, deciding he needed to get a real night's sleep, and followed Sasuke into the hall.

"I thought you were gay," Sasuke said evilly.

"What do you want?" Kakashi sighed, rubbing his stiff neck.

"Tsunade-sama sent for us."

They transported to the outside Tsunade's office, and Sasuke went in first. Kakashi meant to close the door, but Shizune left and took care of that for him.

"Kakashi. Sasuke." Tsunade entwined her fingers and rest them against her chin. "Kakashi, you are already aware of this. Akumako Kaori is now a ninja and will be allowed the same privileges and required of the same duties as the rest of you. You will be training her as you see fit, and when either of you is sent on a mission, the other shall accompany." Tsunade stood and circled around her desk. "But as you know, Sasuke is not allowed to go on missions nor participate in events without your guardianship, Kakashi. I've spoken with ANBU, and we've agreed that until at least a full year has passed, you will be under the same restrictions, Sasuke. What I'm saying is that we have two ninjas dependent on Kakashi to continue serving Konoha. My solution to this forming a three-man team that will complete missions together, just as you did as Genin with Team Kakashi."

"A three-man team? But it would be more like a two-man team with a handicap," Sasuke said bitterly.

"Sasuke..."

"This is my decision, Sasuke, and it still stands. I don't know what you have against Kaori, but this is what's best for all three of you. If you refuse, you will not be allowed to go on missions with Kaori or Kakashi. Which means no missions at all."

"Why can't _she _stay behind? What could having her on a team accomplish? Besides time lost."

"My decision is final!" Tsunade said angrily, stepping dangerously towards the Uchiha.

"Will she affect the difficulty of our missions?" Kakashi asked hurriedly, having dealt enough with an angry Hokage while training Naruto.

"Not generally. Of course you won't be getting any S-rank missions, unless you undertake them yourself."

"Will we be given a fourth member to complete the team?"

"I've thought about it, but I really can't spare anyone else to be tied to a specific team. If the mission calls for the needed fourth member, you will of course be joined by someone. You may start Kaori's training tomorrow, Kakashi, for I'd like her to rest well a little longer. And if there are no more questions, you two are dismissed."

Kakashi shrugged and turned to leave. Sasuke remained at the desk.

"I have to protest this decision of yours, Hokage-sama."

"Protest noted." Tsunade returned to her mountain of paperwork.

"Hokage-sama-"

"Think of her as Naruto. I've noticed they are much alike anyway. You hated him when you were teamed together, and now look what has happened? Don't worry about Kaori and your team will be just fine. Why else would Kakashi agree to train her?"

Sasuke stared for a moment before nodding and following Kakashi, who waited outside the door.

"Think of her as Naruto," Kakashi reminded him.

"As a dumbass?"

"No. I meant more like the way she acts. No one can compare to Naruto's thought process."

"What have you gotten yourself into, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke growled before disappearing. Kakashi shook his head and returned to the infirmary.

Kaori was sitting on the foot of the bed, looking deep in thought, her eye bright and much more alert than before.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gruffly.

Kaori jumped slightly. " Much better, thank you. The nightmares have stopped." Kaori rubbed her face vigorously. "What happened here...when you...I mean to say, please don't tell anyone." She managed to meet his eye, which he smiled with.

"Don't worry about it," he promised. Her moment of weakness would stay between the two of them.

Relief spread over Kaori's features. "Thank goodness. Tsunade said I could go home tonight. I think I'm ready." She tied her hitai-ate back on her head and patted it in satisfaction.

"So, when do we start training?"


End file.
